LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Gl  FT    OF 

Class 


BOWDOIN   BOYS 

IN 

LABRADOR 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 
BOWDOIN  COLLEGE  j*  j* 
SCIENTIFIC  EXPEDITION 
TO  LABRADOR  LED  BY 
PROF.  LESLIE  A.  LEE 
OF  THE  BIOLOGICAL 
DEPARTMENT  <*>  *  <*> 

— BY 

JONATHAN  PRINCE  C1LLEY, 


ROCKI.AND,  MAINE  : 
ROCKLAND  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


. 


PREFACE. 


This  letter  from  the  President  of  Bowdoin  College  is 
printed  as  an  appropriate  preface  to  the  pages  which  follow. 

I  thank  you  for  the  advanced  sheets  of  the  "Bowdoin 
Boys  in  Labrador."  As  Sallust  says,  "In  primis  arduum  videtur 
res  gestas  scribere  ;  quod  facta  dictis  sunt  exaequanda." 

In  this  case,  the  diction  is  equal  to  the  deed :  the  clear 
and  vivacious  style  of  the  writer  is  fully  up  to  the  level  of  the 
brilliant  achievements  he  narrates. 

The  intrinsic  interest  of  the  story,  and  its  connection  with 
the  State  and  the  College  ought  to  secure  for  it  a  wide  reading. 
Very  truly  yours, 

WILLIAM   DEW.  HYDE. 


181440 


U  N  I  V  E  R  S 


BOWDOIN  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 


ON  BOARD  THE  "JULIA  A.  DECKER,"  ) 

Port  Hawkesbury,  Gut  of  Canso,  I 

July  6th,  1891.  ) 

Here  the  staunch  Julia  lies  at  anchor  waiting  for  a  change 
in  the  wind  and  a  break  in  the  fog.  To-day  will  be  memora- 
ble in  the  annals  of  the  "Micmac"  Indians,  for  Prof.  Lee  has 
spent  his  enforced  leisure  in  putting  in  anthropometric  work 
among  them,  inducing  braves,  squaws  and  papooses  of  both 
sexes  to  mount  the  trunk  that  served  as  a  measuring  block  and 
go  through  the  ordeal  of  having  their  height,  standing  and  sit- 
ting, stretch  of  arms,  various  diameters  of  head  and  peculiari- 
ties of  the  physiognomy  taken  down.  While  he  with  two  as- 
sistants was  thus  employed,  two  of  our  photographic  corps 
were  busily  engaged  in  preserving  as  many  of  their  odd  faces 
and  costumes  as  possible,  making  pictures  of  their  picturesque 
camp  on  the  side  of  a  hill  sloping  toward  an  arm  of  the  Gut, 
with  its  round  tent  covered  with  birch  and  fir  bark,  dogs  and 
children,  and  stacks  oi  logs  or  wood — from  which  they  make 
the  strips  for  their  chief  products,  baskets — cows,  baggage  and 
all  the  other  accompaniments  of  a  comparatively  permanent 
camp.  They  go  into  the  woods  and  make  log  huts  for  winter, 
but  such  miserable  quarters  as  these  prove  to  be  on  closer  in- 
spection, with  stoves,  dirt  and  chip  floor,  bedding  and  food  in 
close  proximity  to  the  six  or  eight  inhabitants  of  each  hut, 
suffice  them  during  warm  weather.  We  found  that  they  elect 
a  chief,  who  holds  the  office  for  life.  The  present  incumbent 
lives  near  by  St.  Peter's  Island,  and  is  about  forty  years  old. 


2  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR 

They  hold  a  grand  festival  in  a  few  weeks  somewhere  on  the 
shore  of  Brasd'Or  Lake,  at  which  nearly  every  Indian  on  the 
Island  is  expected,  some  two  thousand  in  all,  we  are  informed, 
and  after  experiencing  our  good-fellowship  at  their  camp  and 
on  board  they  invited  us  one  and  all  to  come  down,  only  cau- 
tioning us  to  bring  along  a  present  of  whiskey  for  the  chief. 

The  Gut,  in  this  part  at  least,  is  beautiful  sailing  ground, 
with  bold,  wooded  shores,  varied  by  slight  coves  and  valleys 
with  little  hamlets  at  the  shore  and  fishermen's  boats  lying  off 
the  beach.  The  lower  part  we  passed  in  a  fog,  so  we  are  ig- 
norant of  its  appearance  as  though  the  Julia  had  not  carried  us 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  it,  instead  of  having  knowingly 
brought  us  past  rock  and  shoal  to  this  quiet  cove,  under  the 
red  rays  of  the  light  on  Hawkesbury  Point,  and  opposite  Port 
Mulgrave,  with  which  Hawkesbury  is  connected  by  a  little  two- 
sailed,  double-ended  ferry-boat  built  on  a  somewhat  famous 
model.  It  seems  that  a  boat  builder  of  this  place,  who,  by  the 
way,  launched  a  pretty  little  yacht  to-day,  sent  a  fishing  boat, 
whose  model  and  rig  was  the  product  of  many  years'  experi- 
ence as  a  fisherman,  to  the  London  Fisheries'  Exhibit  of  a  few 
years  past,  and  received  first  medal  from  among  seven  thou- 
sand five  hundred  competitors.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was  so 
pleased  with  the  boat,  which  was  exhibited  under  full  sail  with 
a  wax  fisherman  at  the  helm,  that  he  purchased  it  and  has 
since  used  it.  Later,  when  the  United  States  fish  commission 
schooner  Grampus  was  here  with  the  present  assistant  com- 
missioner, Capt.  Collins,  in  command,  the  plans  were  pur- 
chased by  our  government  on  the  condition  that  no  copies 
were  to  be  made  without  Mr.  Embree's  consent.  A  little  later 
yet,  a  commissioner  from  Holland  and  Sweden  came  over, 
bought  the  plans  and  built  a  perfect  copy  of  the  original,  the 
seaworthy  qualities  of  which  has  caused  its  type  to  entirely 
displace  the  old  style  of  small  fishing  boats  in  those  countries- 
The  boat's  abilities  in  heavy  waters  have  been  tested  many 
times,  and  have  never  failed  to  equal  her  reputation. 

But,  meanwhile,  the  Julia  lies  quietly  at  anchor,  as  if  it  were 


THE   REAL   START  3 

mutely  reproaching  your  correspondent  with  singing  another's 
praises  when  she  has  brought  us  safely  and  easily  thus  far,  in 
spite  of  gales,  fog,  and  headwind,  calm,  and  treacherous  tide, 
and  even  now  is  eagerly  waiting  for  the  opportunity  to  carry 
us  straight  and  swiftly  to  Battle  Harbor  in  the  straits  of  Belle 
Isle,  where  letters  and  papers  from  home  await  us,  and  then 
up  through  the  ice  fields  to  Cape  Chudleigh. 

Our  real  start  was  made  from  Southwest  Harbor,  Mt.  Desert, 
the  Monday  after  leaving  Rockland.  Saturday  night,  after  a 
short  sail  in  the  dark  and  a  few  tacks  up  the  Thoroughfare  to 
North  Haven  village,  we  anchored  and  rested  from  the  confu- 
sion and  worry  of  getting  started  and  trying  to  forget  nothing 
that  would  be  needed  in  our  two  and  one-half  months'  trip. 
Sunday  morning  was  nearly  spent  before  things  were  well 
enough  stowed  to  allow  us  to  get  under  weigh  in  safety,  and 
then  our  bow  was  turned  eastward  and,  as  we  thought,  pointed 
for  Cape  Sable.  Going  by.  the  hospital  on  Widow's  Island 
and  the  new  light  on  Goose  Rock  nearly  opposite  it,  out  into 
Isle  au  Haut  bay,  we  found  a  fresh  northeaster,  which  warned 
us  not  to  go  across  the  Bay  of  Fundy  if  we  had  no  desire  for 
an  awful  shaking  up.  In  view  of  all  the  facts,  such  as  green 
men,  half-stowed  supplies  and  threatening  weather,  we  decided 
that  we  must  not  put  our  little  vessel  through  her  paces  that 
night,  and  chose  the  more  ignominious,  but  also  more  com- 
fortable course  of  putting  into  a  harbor.  Consequently  after 
plunging  through  the  rips  off  Bass  Head,  and  cutting  inside 
the  big  bell  buoy  off  its  entrance,  we  ran  into  Southwest  Har- 
bor and  came  to  anchor.  In  the  evening  many  of  the  party 
thought  it  wise  to  improve  the  last  opportunity  for  several 
months,  as  we  then  supposed,  to  attend  church,  and  to  one 
who  knew  the  chapel-cutting  proclivities  of  many  of  our  party 
while  at  Bowdoin,  it  would  have  been  amusing  to  see  them 
solemnly  tramp  into  church,  rubber  boots  and  all.  It  is  a  fact, 
however,  that  every  member  of  our  party,  with  a  possible  ex- 
ception, went  to  church  in  this  place  yesterday  largely  for  the 
same  reason. 


4  BOWDOIN   BOYS    IN   LABRADOR 

Our  little  Julia  rewarded  our  action  of  the  night  previous  by 
taking  us  out  by  Mt  Desert  Rock  at  a  rattling  pace  Monday 
morning,  bowing  very  sharply  and  very  often  to  the  spindle- 
like  tower  on  the  rock,  as  she  met  the  Bay  of  Fundy  chop, 
and  at  the  same  time  administered  a  very  effective  emetic  to 
all  but  five  or  six  of  the  Bowdoin  boys  aboard.  She  is  wise  as 
well  as  bold  and  strong,  and  so  after  nightfall  waited  under 
easy  canvas  for  light  to  reveal  Seal  Island  to  our  watchful  eyes. 
Shortly  after  daylight  the  low  coast  was  made  out,  the  dan- 
gerous rocks  passed,  and  Cape  Sable  well  on  our  quarter.  But 
there  it  stayed.  We  made  but  little  progress  for  two  days,  and 
employed  the  time  in  laying  in  a  supply  of  cod,  haddock  and 
pollock,  till  our  bait  was  exhausted.  Then  we  shot  at  birds, 
seals  and  porpoises  whenever  they  were  in  sight,  and  from  the 
success,  apparently,  at  many  when  they  were  not  in  sight ;  put 
the  finishing  touches  on  our  stowage,  and  kept  three  of  the 
party  constantly  employed  with  our  long  bamboo-handled  dip- 
net,  in  fishing  up  specimens  for  the  professor  and  his  assist- 
ants. As  the  result  of  this  we  have  a  large  number  of  fish 
eggs  which  we  are  watching  in  the  process  of  hatching,  many 
specimens  of  Crustacea  and  of  seaweed.  The  photographers, 
in  the  meanwhile,  got  themselves  into  readiness  for  real  work 
by  practicing  incessantly  upon  us. 

Thursday,  we  made  Sambro  light;  soon  pilot  boat  number 
one  hailed  us  and  put  a  man  aboard,  whom  we  neither  needed 
nor  wanted,  and  we  were  anchored  off  the  market  steps  at 
Halifax.  The  run  up  the  harbor  was  very  pleasant.  Bright 
skies,  a  fresh  breeze  off  the  land,  and  vessels  all  about  us  made 
many  lively  marine  pictures.  The  rather  unformidable  appear- 
ing fortification, '4on  account  of  which  Halifax  boasts  herself  the 
most  strongly  fortified  city  of  America,  together  with  the  flag- 
ship Bellerophon  and  two  other  vessels  of  the  Atlantic  squad- 
ron, the  Canada  and  the  Thrush,  the  latter  vessel  until  lately 
having  been  commanded  by  Prince  George,  gave  the  harbor 
and  town  a  martial  tone  that  was  heightened  upon  our  going 
ashore  and  seeing  the  red  coats  that  throng  the  streets  in  the 


BOOM  OF  T&E  JULIA  DECKER 


evening.  Halifax,  with  its  squat,  smoky,  irregular  streets  is 
well  known,  and  its  numerous  public  buildings,  drill  barracks, 
and  well  kept  public  gardens,  all  backed  by  the  frowning  cita- 
del, probably  need  no  description  from  me.  After  receiving 
the  letters  for  which  we  came  in,  and  sending  the  courteous 
United  States  Consul  General,  Mr.  Frye,  and  his  vice-consul, 
Mr.  King,  Colby  '89,  ashore  with  a  series  of  college  yells  that 
rather  startled  the  sleepy  old  town,  we  laid  a  course  down  the 
harbor,  exchanged  salutes  with  the  steamship  Caspian,  and 
were  soon  ploughing  along,  before  a  fine  south-west  breeze 
for  Cape  Canso. 

While  our  little  vessel  is  driving  ahead  with  wind  well  over 
the  quarter,  groaning,  as  it  were,  at  the  even  greater  confusion 
in  the  wardroom  than  when  we  left  Rockland.  owing  to  the  ad- 
ditional supplies  purchased  at  Halifax,  it  may  be  well  to  briefly 
describe  her  appearance,  when  fitted  to  carry  seventeen  Bow- 
doin  men  in  her  hold  in  place  of  the  lime  and  coal  to  which 
she  has  been  accustomed.  Descending,  then,  the  forward 
hatch,  protected  by  a  plain  hatch  house,  the  visitor  turns 
around  and  facing  aft,  looks  down  the  two  sides  of  the  immense 
centreboard  box  that  occupies  the  centre  of  our  wardroom 
from  floor  to  deck.  Fastened  to  it  are  the  mess  tables,  nearly 
always  lighted  by  some  four  or  five  great  lamps,  which  serve 
to  warm  as  well,  as  the  pile  of  stuff  around  and  beneath  the 
after-hatch  house  cuts  off  most  of  the  light  that  would  other- 
wise come  down  there.  On  the  port  side  of  the  table  runs  the 
whole  length  of  the  box  ;  two  wooden  settles  serve  for  dining 
chairs  and  leave  about  four  feet  clear  space  next  the  "deacon's 
seat"  that  runs  along  in  front  of  the  five  double-tiered  berths. 
These  are  canvas-bottomed,  fitted  with  racks,  shelves,  and  the 
upper  ones  with  slats  overhead,  in  which  to  stow  our  overflow- 
ing traps. 

At  the  after  end,  on  both  sides  of  the  wardroom,  are  large 
lockers  coming  nearly  to  the  edge  of  the  hatch,  in  which  most 
of  the  provisions  are  stowed.  At  the  forward  end,  next  to  the 
bulkhead  that  separates  us  from  the  galley,  are,  on  the  port 


6  BOWDOItt  BOtS    IN 


side,  a  completely  equipped  dark  room  in  which  many  excel- 
lent pictures  have  already  been  brought  to  light,  and  on  the 
starboard  side  a  large  rack  holding  our  canned  goods,  ketchup, 
lime-juice,  etc.  Along  the  bulkhead  are  the  fancy  cracker 
boxes,  tempting  a  man  to  take  one  every  time  he  goes  below, 
and  under  the  racks  are  our  kerosene  and  molasses  barrels. 
Between  the  line  of  four  double-tier  berths  on  the  starboard 
side  and  the  rack  just  described  is  a  handy  locker  for  oil 
clothes  and  heavy  overcoats.  Lockers  run  along  under  the 
lower  berths,  and  trunks  with  a  thousand  other  articles  are 
stowed  under  the  tables.  A  square  hole  cut  in  the  bulkhead, 
just  over  the  galley  head,  lets  heat  into  the  wardroom  and  as- 
sists the  lamps  in  keeping  us  warm.  As  yet,  in  spite  ot  some 
quite  cold  weather,  we  have  been  perfectly  comfortable. 
Sometimes,  however,  odors  come  in  as  well  as  heat  from  the 
galley,  and  do  not  prove  so  agreeable.  If  to  this  description, 
clothes  of  various  kinds,  guns,  game  bags,  boots,  fishing  tackle 
and  books,  should,  by  the  imagination  of  the  reader,  to  be 
scattered  about,  promiscuously  hung,  or  laid  in  every  con- 
ceivable nook  and  corner,  a  fair  idea  of  our  floating  house  could 
be  obtained.  On  deck  we  are  nearly  as  badly  littered,  though 
in  more  orderly  fashion.  Two  nests  of  dories,  a  row  boat,  five 
water  tanks,  a  gunning  float,  and  an  exploring  boat,  partly 
well  fill  the  Julia's  spacious  decks.  The  other  exploring  boat 
hangs  inside  the  schooner's  yawl  at  the  stern.  Add  to  these 
two  hatch  houses,  a  small  pile  of  lumber,  and  considerable  fire 
wood  snugly  stowed  between  the  casks,  and  you  have  a  fair 
idea  of  our  anything  but  clear  decks.  A  yellow  painted  bust, 
presumably  of  our  namesake  Julia,  at  the  end  of  figure-head, 
peers  through  the  fog  and  leads  us  in  the  darkness  ;  a  white 
stripe  relieves  the  blackness  of  our  sides;  a  green  rail  sur- 
mounts all  ;  and,  backed  by  the  forms  of  nineteen  variously  at- 
tired Bowdoin  men,  from  professor,  their  tutor,  alumnus,  to 
freshmen,  complete  our  description. 

Meanwhile  the  night,  clear  but  windless,  has  come  on,  and 
we  drift  along  the  Novia  Scotia  coast,    lying  low   and  blue   on 


O#    JtJLtf 


our  northern  board.  The  Fourth  dawns  rather  foggy,  but  it 
soon  yields  to  the  sun's  rays  and  a  good  breeze  which  bowls 
us  along  toward  the  Cape.  An  elaborate  celebration  of  the 
day  is  planned,  but  only  the  poem  is  finally  rendered,  due 
probably  to  increased  sea  which  the  brisk  breeze  raises  inca- 
pacitating several  of  the  actors  for  their  assigned  parts.  The 
poem,  by  the  late  editor  of  '91*5  "BUGLE,"  is  worthy  of  preser- 
vation, but  would  hardly  be  understood  unless  our  whole 
crowd  were  present  to  indicate  by  their  roars  the  good  points 
in  it. 

At  night  our  constant  follower,  the  fog,  shuts  in,  and  the 
captain  steering  off  the  Cape,  we  lay  by,  jumping  and  rolling 
in  a  northeast  sea,  waiting  for  daylight  to  assist  us  to  Cape 
Canso  Harbor  and  the  Little  Ant.  About  six  next  morning 
we  form  one  of  a  fleet  of  five  or  six  sail  passing  the  striped 
lighthouse  on  Cranberry  Island,  and  with  a  rush  go  through 
the  narrow  passage  lined  with  rocks  and  crowded  with  fisher- 
men. Out  into  the  fog  of  Chedebucto  Bay  we  soon  pass  and 
in  the  fog  we  remain,  getting  but  a  glimpse  of  the  shore  now 
and  then,  till  we  reach  Port  Hawkesbury. 

JONA.  P.  ClLLEY,  JR. 


BOWDOIN  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 

ON  BOARD  THE  "JULIA  A.  DECKER,"  ) 
OFF  ST.  JOHN'S  BAY,  NEWFOUNDLAND,  j 

We  are  bowling  along  with  a  fine  southwest  wind,  winged  out, 
mainsail  reefed  and  foresail  two-reefed,  and  shall  be  in  the  straits  in 
about  two  hours.  The  Julia  is  a  flyer.  Between  1 2  and  4  this 
morning  we  logged  just  46  knots,  namely,  13.5  miles  per  hour  for 
four  hours.  I  doubt  if  I  ever  went  much  faster  in  a  sailing  vessel. 
It  is  now  about  10  o'clock,  and  we  have  made  over  75  miles  since  4. 

All  hands  are  on  watch  for  a  first  glimpse  of  the  Labrador  coast, 
which  will  probably  be  Cape  Armours  with  the  light  on  it. 

I  wrote  last  time  from  Hawkesbury  in  the  Gut  of  Canso.  We  laid 
there  all  day  Monday,  July  6th,  as  the  wind,  southeast  in  the 
harbor,  was  judged  by  everybody  to  be  northeast  out  in  George's 
Bay,  and  consequently  dead  ahead  for  us.  Monday  evening,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  purser,  we  all  went  down  aboard  the  "  State  of 
Indiana,"  the  regular  steamer  of  the  "State  Line"  between  Char- 
lottetown,  P.  E.  I.,  and  Boston,  touching  at  Halifax,  and  in  the 
Gut. 

After  going  ashore  we  stayed  on  the  wharf  till  she  left,  singing 
college  songs,  giving  an  impromptu  athletic  exhibition,  etc.,  to  the 
intense  delight  of  about  fifty  small  boys  (I  can't  conceive  where 
they  all  came  from),  and  the  two  or  three  hundred  servant  girls 
going  home  to  P.  E.  I.  for  a  summer  vacation. 

I  would  put  in  here  parenthetically,  that  since  writing  the  above 
I  have  been  on  deck  helping  jibe  the  mainsail,  as  we  have  changed 
our  course  to  about  east  by  north,  having  rounded  a  couple  of  small 
low,  sandy  islands  off  the  Bay  of  St.  John,  and  now  point  straight 
into  the  strait  of  Belle  Isle. 

In  the  afternoon  we  examined  some  of  the  old  red  sandstone 
which  underlies  all  that  part  of  Cape  Breton  Island,  found  some 
good  specimens,  and  some  very  plain  and  deep  glacial  scratches. 
There  is  also  some  coal  and  a  good  deal  of  shale  in  with  the  sand- 
stone. 

We  had  a  good  opportunity  to  see  this,  since  the  railroad  connect- 
ing Port  Hawkesbury  with  Sidney  is  new,  having  started  running 


10  BOWDOIN   BOYS    IK   LABRAt>Ofc 

only  last  March,  and  hence  the  cues  furnished  admirable  fields  in 
which  to  examine  the  geology.  The  road  is  surveyed  and  bed  made 
along  the  Cape  Breton  shore  of  the  Gut  nearly  to  the  northern  end, 
and  when  completed  will  be  a  delightful  ride.  I  think  the  Gut  for 
10  miles  north  of  Port  Hawkesbury  resembles  the  Hudson  just  by 
the  Palisades.  It  is  grander  than  Eggemoggin  Reach  and  on  a  far 
larger  scale  than  Somes'  Sound.  At  the  northern  end  it  broadens 
and  becomes  just  a  magnificent  waterway,  without  the  grand 
scenery.  We  were  becalmed  nearly  all  day  in  George's  Bay,  at  one 
time  getting  pretty  near  Antigonish,  but  got  a  breeze  towards  even- 
ing. We  tried  fishing  several  times  but  could  not  get  a  bite  though 
several  fishermen  were  in  sight  and  trawls  innumerable.  We  passed 
one  fisherman,  a  fine  three-master,  just  as  we  were  coming  out  of 
the  Gut  from  Frenchman's  Bay,  going  home,  but  with  very  little  fish. 

I  got  the  captain  to  call  me  about  4,  Wednesday  morning,  to  fish, 
but  got  none.  We  were  then  off  North  Cape,  having  had  a  good 
breeze  all  night.  The  wind  was  light  all  day,  but  towards  the  latter 
part  of  the  afternoon  commenced  to  blow  from  the  southeast,  kick- 
ing up  a  nasty  sea  very  soon.  We  double  reefed  the  mainsail 
reefed  the  foresail  and  hauled  the  flying  jib  down.  About  8  P.  M. 
we  laid  to  with  the  jib  hauled  down,  on  the  starboard  tack.  The 
wind  had  backed  to  the  east  about  four  points  and  was  blowing  a 
gale.  About  12  M.  it  suddenly  dropped,  a  flat  calm,  leaving  a 
tremendous  sea  running  from  the  southeast,  combined  with  a  smaller 
one  from  the  east.  Our  motions,  jumps,  rolls  and  pitches,  can  be 
better  imagined  than  described.  It  seemed  at  times  that  our  bow 
and  our  stern  were  where  the  mastheads  usually  are,  and  our  rails 
were  frequently  rolled  under. 

Rice  and  Hunt  stood  one  watch,  Cary  and  I  the  second,  and  here 
Rice,  though  a  good  sailor  and  an  experienced  yachtsman,  finally 
succumbed.  We  hauled  everything  down  with  infinite  difficulty, 
owing  to  the  violent  motion,  and  made  it  fast,  then  let  her  roll  and 
pitch  to  her  heart's  content.  A  sorrier  looking  place  than  our  ward- 
room, and  a  sicker  set  of  fellows  it  would  be  hard  to  find.  The 
dishes  had  some  play  in  the  racks,  and  kept  up  an  infernal  racket 
that  I  tried  in  every  way  to  stop  and  could  not.  To  cap  all,  the 
wind  came  off  a  gale  northwest  about  4  A.  M.,  and  made  yet 
another  sea.  As  soon  as  possible  we  set  a  double-reefed  foresail, 
and  then  I  turned  in.  When  I  turned  out  at  noon  we  had  made 
Newfoundland  and  set  a  whole  foresail,  jib  and  one  reef  out  of  the 
mainsail.  We  were  becalmed,  but  found  excellent  fishing,  so  did 


MEMBERS   OF   T?HE   EXPEDITION  ll 

not  care.  The  sea  had  gone  down  and  we  began  to  enjoy  the  Nor- 
way-like rugged  coast  of  Newfoundland.  The  mountains  come 
right  down  to  the  water,  and  are  about  1,400  feet  high,  by  our 
measurement,  using  angular  altitude  by  sextant  and  base  line,  our 
distance  off  shore  as  shown  by  our  observation  for  latitude  and 
longitude. 

There  are  many  deep,  narrow- mouthed  coves  and  harbors,  a  good 
number  of  islands  and  points  making  a  most  magnificent  coast  line. 
In  many  cases  50  or  75  fathoms  are  found  right  under  the  shore. 
Great  patches  of  snow,  miles  in  extent,  cover  the  mountain  sides. 
Great  brown  patches,  which  the  professor  thinks  are  washings  from 
the  fine  examples  of  erosion,  but  which  look  to  me  like  patches  of 
brown  grass  as  we  see  in  Penobscot  Bay  on  the  islands,  vary  with 
what  is  apparently  a  scrubby  evergreen  growth  and  bald,  bare  rocks. 
As  we  are  about  18  miles  off,  the  blue  haze  over  all  makes  an  en- 
larged, roughened  and  much  more  deeply  indented  Camden  moun- 
tain coast  line.  The  bays  are  in  some  cases  so  deep  that  we  can 
look  into  narrow  entrances  and  see  between  great  cliffs,  only  a  few 
miles  apart,  a  water  horizon  on  the  other  side.  We  wished  very 
much  to  get  in  towards  the  shore,  but  the  calm  and  very  strong 
westerly  current,  about  i^  knots,  prevented. 

While  enjoying  the  calm  in  pleasant  contrast  to  our  late  shaking 
up,  it  will  be  well  to  introduce  the  members  of  the  party  whom 
Bowdoin  has  thought  worthy  to  bear  her  name  into  regions  seldom 
vexed  by  a  college  yell,  and  to  whom  she  has  entrusted  the  high 
duties  of  scientific  investigation,  in  which,  since  the  days  of  Professor 
Cleaveland,  she  has  kept  a  worthy  place. 

In  command  is  Prof.  Leslie  A.  Lee,  of  the  Biological  Depart- 
ment of  Bowdoin.  With  a  life-long  experience  in  all  branches  of 
natural  history,  the  experience  which  a  year  in  charge  of  the  scien- 
tific staff  of  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  Steamer  "Albatross"  in  a 
voyage  from  Washington  around  Cape  Horn  to  Alaska,  and  an  in- 
timate connection  with  the  Commission  of  many  year's  standing, 
and  the  training  that  scholarly  habits,  platform  lecturing  and  collegic 
instruction  have  given  him,  you  see  a  man  still  young,  for  he  was 
graduated  from  St.  Lawrence  University  in  1872,  and  equal  to  all 
the  fatigues  that  out-of-door,  raw-material,  scientific  work  demands. 

The  rest  of  the  party  have  yet  to  prove  their  mettle,  and  of  them 
but  little  can  now  be  said.  Dr.  Parker,  who,  with  the  Professor, 
captain  and  mate,  occupies  the  cabin  proper,  is  an  '86  man,  cut  out 
for  a  physician  and  thoroughly  prepared  to  fulfil  all  the  functions  of 


12  BOWDOIN  :•  BOYS    IK   LABRADOR 

a  medical  staff,   from  administering  quinine    to  repairing  broken 
limbs. 

Gary  of  '87 >  who  is  even  now  planning  for  his  struggle  with  the 
difficulties  on  the  way -to  the  Grand  Falls,  has  had  the  most  experi- 
ence in  work  of  the  sort  the  expedition  hopes  to  do,  save  the  Pro- 
fessor and  Cole.  Logging  and  hunting  in  the  Maine  forests  in  the 
vicinity  of  his  home  in  Machias,  and  fishing  on  the  Georges  from 
Cape  Ann  smacks,  have  fitted  him  physically,  as  taking  the  highest 
honors  for  scholarship  at  Bowdoin,  teaching  and  university  work  in 
his  chosen  branch,  have  prepared  him  mentally,  for  the  great  task  in 
which  he  leads. 

Cole  who  accompanies  him  up  Grand  River,  was  Prof.  Lee's 
assistant  on  the  " Albatross,"  and  is  well  fitted  by  experience  and  by 
a  vigorous  participation  in  athletics  at  college  before  his  graduation 
in  '88. 

From  the  expedition's  actual  starting  place,  Rockland,  there  are 
four  members:  Rice,  the  yachtsman,  Simonton,  Spear  and  the 
writer,  all  fair  specimens  of  college  boys,  and  eager  to  get  some  re- 
flection from  the  credit  which  they  hope  to  help  the  expedition  to 
win. 

Portland  has  two  representatives :  Rich,  '92,  and  Baxter,  93,  the 
latter  our  only  freshman ;  while  Bangor  sends  three :  Hunt,  '90, 
Hunt,  '91,  vrho  has  charge  of  the  dredging,  and  Hastings  the  taxi- 
dermist. 

W.  R.  Smith,  another  salutatorian  of  his  class,  is  one  of  the 
many  Maine  boys  whom  Massachusetts  has  called  in  to  help  train 
the  youth  of  our  mother  Commonwealth,  and  has  been  at  the  head 
of  the  High  School  at  Leicester  for  the  past  year.  He,  too,  is 
thought  to  equal  in  physical  vigor  his  mental  qualities,  and  has 
been  selected  to  brave  the  hardships  of  the  Grand  River. 

To  complete  the  detail  for  this  exploration,  Young  of  Brunswick 
and  of  '92,  has  been  selected,  another  athlete  of  the  college,  who 
has  had,  in  addition  to  his  training  at  Bowdoin,  a  year  or  more  of 
instruction  in  the  schools  and  gymnasiums  of  Germany. 

Porter,  Andrews,  and  Newbegin,  the  latter,  the  only  man  not 
from  Maine,  coming  from  Ohio,  and  only  to  be  accounted  for  as  a 
member  of  the  expedition  by  the  fact  that  his  initials  P.  C.  stand 
for  Parker  Cleaveland,  finish  the  list,  with  but  one  exception  and 
that  is  Lincoln.  The  merry-maker  and  star  on  deck  and  below  — 
except  when  the  weather  is  too  rough — he  keeps  the  crowd  good- 
natured  when  fogs,  rain,  head  winds  and  general  discomfort  tend  to 


BED   BAY  13 

discontent :  and  on  shore  he  sees  that  the  doctor  is  not  too  hard 
worked  in  making  the  botanical  collections. 

For  two  days  we  lazily  drifted,  the  elements  seeming  to  be  mak- 
ing up  for  their  late  riot ;  but  the  weather  was  clear  and  bright,  the 
scenery  way  oiT  to  our  starboard  was  grand,  and  no  one  was  troubled 
by  the  delay,  except  as  the  thoughts  of  the  Grand  River  men  turned 
to  the  great  distance  and  the  short  time  of  their  trip.  At  last,  how- 
ever, the  breeze  came,  with  which  I  opened  this  letter,  and  which 
we  then  hoped  would  continue  till  we  reached  Battle  Harbor. 

We  just  flew  up  the  straits,  saw  many  fishermen  at  anchor  with 
their  dories  off  at  the  trawls,  schooners  and  dories  both  jumping  in 
great  shape;  also  a  school  of  whales  and  an  "ovea"  or  whale-killer, 
with  a  fin  over  three  feet  long  sticking  straight  up.  He  also  broke 
right  alongside  and  blew.  Considerable  excitement  attended  our 
first  sight  of  an  iceberg;  it  was  a  rotten  white  one,  but  soon  we 
saw  a  lot,  some  very  dark  and  deep-colored. 

Our  first  sight  of  the  long-desired  coast  was  between  Belle 
Armours  Point  and  the  cliffs  near  Red  Bay,  the  thick  haze  making 
the  outlines  very  indistinct.  Just  two  weeks  out  from  Rockland 
we  made  our  first  harbor  on  the  Labrador  coast.  Red  Bay  is  a 
beautiful  little  place,  and  with  the  added  features  of  two  magnifi- 
cent icebergs  close  by  which  we  passed  in  entering,  the  towering 
red  clitTs  on  the  left  from  which  it  takes  its  name,  and  the  snug  little 
island  in  the  middle,  and  the  odd  houses  we  saw  dotting  the  shores  of 
the  summer  settlement  of  the  natives,  it  seemed  a  sample  fully  equal 
to  our  expectations  of  what  we  should  find  in  Labrador. 

There  is  an  inner  harbor  into  which  we  could  have  goner  with 
seven  fathoms  of  water  and  in  which  vessels  sometimes  winter  as  it 
is  so  secure,  but  we  did  not  enter  it  because  the  captain  was  doubt- 
ful which  of  the  two  entrances  to  take  and  the  chart  seemed  indefi- 
nite on  the  point.  There  are  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
people  in  the  settlement,  some  of  them  staying  there  the  year  round, 
fishing  in  the  summer  and  hunting  the  rest  of  the  time.  They  have 
another  settlement  of  winter  houses  at  the  head  of  the  inner  harbor, 
but,  for  convenience  in  getting  at  their  cod  traps,  live  on  the  island  in 
the  middle,  and  on  the  sides  of  the  outer  harbor  in  the  summer. 
Their  houses  are  made  of  logs  about  the  size  of  small  railroad  ties, 
which  are  stood  on  end  and  clapboarded.  The  winter  houses  are 
built  in  a  similar  way  with  earth  packed  around  and  over  them. 

The  party  for  Grand  River  —  Cary,  Cole,  W.  R.  Smith  and 
Young — have  decided  to  dispense  with  a  guide  ;  very  wisely,  I  think, 


14  BOWDOIN   BOYS    IN   LABRADOR 

from  what  I  have  seen  of  native  Labradoreans.  While  the  journey 
they  undertake  is  one  in  which  the  skill  of  Indians  or  half-breeds, 
familiar  with  Labrador  wildernesses  would  be  of  great  value  and 
would  add  to  the  comfort  of  our  party,  it  is  very  doubtful  if  any 
living  person  has  ever  been  to  the  falls  or  knows  any  more  about 
the  last,  and  probably  the  hardest  part  of  the  trip,  than  Gary. 
And,  further,  the  travel  is  so  difficult  that  about  all  a  man  can  carry 
is  supplies  for  himself;  and  the  Indians  cannot  stand  the  pace  that 
our  men  intend  to  strike ;  nor,  if  it  should  come  to  the  last  extremity, 
and  a  forlorn  hope  was  needed  to  make  a  last  desperate  push  for 
discovery  or  relief,  could  the  Indian  guides,  so  far  as  we  have  any 
knowledge  of  them,  be  relied  on.  That  the  boldest  measures 
are  often  the  surest,  will  probably  again  be  demonstrated  by  our 
Grand  River  party. 

We  tried  the  exploring  boats  very  thoroughly  at  Chateau  Bay, 
three  of  us  getting  caught  about  six  miles  from  the  vessel  in  quite 
a  blow,  and  the  well-laden  boat  proved  herself  very  seaworthy. 
When  loaded,  she  still  draws  but  little  water,  and  is  good  in  every 
way  for  the  trip. 

This  letter  was  begun  in  the  fine  breeze  off  Newfoundland,  but 
could  not  be  mailed  till  the  port  of  entry  and  post-office  of  Labrador, 
Battle  Harbor,  was  reached.  A  week  was  consumed  in  getting  from 
our  first  anchorage  in  Labrador  to  this  harbor,  as  the  captain  was  un- 
accustomed to  icebergs,  and  properly  decided  to  take  no  risks  with 
them  in  the  strong  shifting  currents  and  thick  weather  of  the  eastern 
end  of  the  straits.  The  wind  was  ahead  for  several  days,  and  the 
heavy  squalls  coming  off  the  land  in  quick  succession  made  us  fear 
the  wind  would  drop  and  leave  us  banging  around  in  the  fog  that 
usually  accompanies  a  calm  spell,  so  we  kept  close  to  harbors  and 
dodged  in  on  the  first  provocation. 

The  season  is  three  weeks  late  this  year ;  the  first  mail  boat  has 
not  yet  arrived,  though  last  year  at  this  time  she  was  on  her  second 
trip.  The  last  report  from  the  North  —  down  the  coast  they  call 
it  —  that  went  to  Newfoundland  and  St.  Johns  was  "that  it  was 
impassable  ice  this  side  Hamilton  Inlet."  A  vessel  —  a  steam  seal- 
ing bark  —  though,  that  was  here  yesterday  and  has  gone  to  Sidney, 
C.  B.  -I.,  reports  now  that  the  coast  is  clear  to  Hopedale.  Beyond 
we  know  nothing  about  it. 

On  Henley  and  Castle  Islands,  at  the  mouth  of  Chateau  Bay,  are 
basaltic  table-lands  about  half  a  mile  across,  perfectly  flat  on  top 
and  about  two  hundred  feet  high.  We  walked  around  one,  went 


BATTLE    HARBOK  15 

to  its  top  and  secured  specimens  from  the  columns.  The  famous 
"  natural  images "  of  men,  are,  to  my  eye,  not  nearly  so  good  as 
the  descriptions  lead  one  to  expect.  The  history  of  the  place  could 
hardly  be  guessed  from  its  present  barren,  desolate,  poverty-stricken 
appearance ;  but  the  remains  of  quite  a  fort  on  Barrier  Point  show 
some  signs  of  former  and  now  departed  glory.  It  seems  that  it  has 
been  under  the  dominion  of  England,  France  and  the  United  States, 
all  of  whom  took  forceful  possession  of  it,  and  England  and  France 
have  governed  it.  An  American  privateer  once  sacked  the  place, 
carrying  away,  I  believe,  about  3,500  pounds  worth  of  property. 
Now,  a  very  small  population  eke  out  a  wretched  existence  by  fish- 
ing, only  a  few  remaining,  living  at  the  heads  of  the  bays,  in  the 
winter,  and  most  of  them  going  home  to  Newfoundland. 

The  icebergs  are  in  great  plenty.  I  counted  eighty  from  the 
basaltic  table-land  at  one  time,  and  the  professor  saw  even  more  at 
once.  Belle  Isle  is  in  plain  sight  from  this  place,  looking  like 
Monhegan  from  the  Georges  Islands,  though  possibly  somewhat 
longer. 

Finally,  as  the  wind  showed  no  signs  of  changing,  the  captain, 
to  our  intense  delight,  decided  to  beat  around  to  Battle  Harbor  and 
we  anchored  here  at  about  5:50  P.  M.,  July  lyth.  Many  of 
the  icebergs  we  passed  were  glorious,  and  the  scene  was  truly 
arctic.  It  was  bitterly  cold,  and  heavy  coats  were  the  order  of  the 
day.  We  passed  Cape  St.  Charles,  the  proposed  terminus  of  the 
Labrador  Railroad  to  reduce  the  time  of  crossing  the  Atlantic  to 
four  days,  saw  the  famous  table-land,  and  soon  opened  Battle 
Harbor  which  we  had  to  beat  up,  way  round  to  the  northward,  to 
enter.  It  was  slow  business  with  a  strong  head  current,  but  the 
fishermen  say  a  vessel  never  came  around  more  quickly.  We  found 
the  harbor  very  small,  with  rocks  not  shown  in  chart  or  coast  pilot, 
and  had  barely  room  to  come  to  without  going  ashore.  We  went 
in  under  bare  poles,  and  then  had  too  much  way  on. 

The  agent  for  the  Bayne,  Johnston  Co.,  which  runs  this  place, 
keeping  nearly  all  its  three  hundred  inhabitants  in  debt  to  it,  is  a 
Mr.  Smith,  who  has  taken  the  professor  and  seven  or  eight  of  the 
boys  on  his  little  steamer  to  the  other  side  of  the  St.  Lewis  Sound. 
The  doctor  has  gone  with  them  to  look  after  some  grip  patients,  and 
the  professor  expects  to  measure  some  half-breed  Eskimo  living 
there.  The  boys  are  expecting  to  get  some  fine  trout.  The  grip 
was  brought  to  this  region  by  the  steamer  bringing  the  first  summer 
fishing  colonies,  and  has  spread  to  all  and  killed  a  great  many. 


16  BOWDOIN   BOYS    IN   LABRADOR 

There  is  an  Episcopal  rector  here,  Mr.  Bull,  who  says  everybody 
had  it.  I  believe  it  is  owing  to  his  care  and  slight  medical  skill 
that  none  have  died  here.  It  is  hard  for  this  people  to  have  such  a 
sickness  just  as  the  fishing  season  is  best.  The  doctor  has  oppor- 
tunity to  use  all  and  far  more  than  the  amount  of  medicine  he 
brought,  much  to  Professor  Lee's  amusement.  He  is  reaping  a 
small  harvest  of  furs,  grateful  tokens  of  his  services,  that  many  of 
his  patients  send  him,  and  some  of  his  presents  have  also  improved 
our  menu. 

This  place  is  named  Battle  Harbor  from  the  conflict  that  took 
place  here  between  the  Indians  and  English  settlers,  aided  by  a 
man-of-war.  The  remains  of  the  fight  are  now  in  a  swamp  covered 
with  fishflakes.  There  are  also  some  strange  epitaphs  in  the  village 
graveyard,  with  its  painted  wooden  head-boards,  and  high  fence  to 
keep  the  dogs  out.  These  latter  are  really  dangerous,  making  it 
necessary  to  carry  a  stick  if  walking  alone.  Men  have  been  killed 
by  them,  but  last  year  the  worst  of  the  lot  were  exported  across  the 
bay,  owing  to  a  bold  steal  of  a  child  by  them  and  its  being  nearly 
eaten  up.  They  are  a  mixture  of  Eskimo,  Indian  and  wolf,  with 
great  white  shaggy  coats. 

The  steamer  with  mail  and  passengers  from  St.  Johns,  Newfound- 
land, is  expected  every  day,  and  as  our  rivals  for  the  honor  of  re- 
discovering Grand  Falls  are  probably  on  board,  there  is  a  race  in 
store  for  us  to  see  who  will  get  to  Rigolette  first,  and  which  party 
will  start  ahead  on  the  perilous  journey  up  the  Grand  River.  As 
they  have  refused  our  offer  of  co-operation,  we  now  feel  no  sym- 
pathy with  their  task,  and  will  have  but  little  for  them  till  we  see 
them,  as  we  hope,  starting  up  the  river  several  days  behind  our 
hardy  crew.  > 

JONATHAN  P.  CILLEY,  JR. 


BOWDOIN  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 

ON  BOARD  THE  JULIA  A.  DECKER,     ^ 

OFF  BIRD  ROCKS, 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  Sept.  10,  1891.  ) 

While  our  little  vessel  is  rushing  through  the  blue  waters  of 
the  gulf,  apparently  scorning  the  efforts  of  the  swift  little  Halifax 
trader  who  promised  to  keep  us  company  from  the  Straits  to 
the  Gut,  and  who,  by  dint  of  good  luck  and  constant  attention 
to  sails  has  thus  far  kept  her  word,  but  is  now  steadily  falling 
astern  and  to  leeward,  I  will  tell  you  about  the  snug  little  har- 
bors, the  bold  headlands,  barren  slopes,  and  bird-covered  rocks, 
and  also  the  odorous  fishing  villages  and  the  kind-hearted 
people  with  whom  she  has  made  us  acquainted. 

The  Bowdoin  scientific  expedition  to  Labrador  is  now  familiar 
with  six  of  the  seven  wonders  in  this  truly  wonderful  region. 
It  has  visited  Grand  Falls  and  "  Bowdoin  Canyon;"  has  been 
bitten  by  black  flies  and  mosquitoes  which  only  Labrador  can 
produce,  both  in  point  of  quality  and  quantity;  has  wandered 
through  the  carriage  roads  (  !  )  and  gardens  of  Northwest  River 
and  Hopedale ;  has  dug  over,  mapped  and  photographed  the 
prehistoric  Eskimo  settlements  that  line  the  shores,  to  the  north 
of  Hamilton  Inlet;  has  made  itself  thoroughly  conversant  with 
the  great  fishing  industry  that  has  made  Labrador  so  valuable, 
to  Newfoundland  in  particular,  and  to  the  codfish  consuming 
world  in  general ;  and  finally  is  itself  the  sixth  wonder,  in  that 
it  has  accomplished  all  it  set  out  to  do,  though  of  course  not  all 
that  would  have  been  done  had  longer  time,  better  weather 
and  several  other  advantages  been  granted  it. 

It  is  almost  another  wonder,  too,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Labradore- 
ans,  that  we  have,  without  pilot  and  yet  without  accident  or 
trouble  of  any  sort,  made  such  a  trip  al6ng  their  rocky  coast, 
entered  their  most  difficult  harbors,  and  outsailed  their  fastest 
vessels,  revenue  cutters,  traders  and  fishermen. 


18  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

It  will  be  a  good  many  years  before  the  visit  of  the  "  Yankee 
college  boys,"  the  speed  of  the  Yankee  schooner  and  the  skill 
and  seamanship  of  the  Yankee  captain  are  forgotten  "  on  the 
Labrador." 

The  day  after  we  left,  July  1 9th,  the  mail  steamer  reached  Battle 
Harbor  with  the  first  mail  of  the  season.  On  board  were  Messrs. 
Bryant  and  Kenaston,  anxiously  looking  for  the  Bowdoin  party  and 
estimating  their  chances  of  getting  to  the  mouth  of  Grand  River. 
They  brought  with  them  an  Adirondack  boat,  of  canoe  model, 
relying  on  the  country  to  furnish  another  boat  to  carry  the  bulk 
of  their  provisions  and  a  crew  to  man  the  same. 

When  the  news  was  received  that  we  were  a  day  ahead,  the 
race  began  in  earnest,  the  captain  of  the  "  Curlew  "  entering 
heartily  into  the  sport  and  doing  his  best  to  overhaul  the  speedy 
Yankee  schooner.  When  about  half  way  up  to  Rigolette,  on  the 
third  day  from  Battle  Harbor,  as  we  were  drifting  slowly  out  of 
"  Seal  Bight,"  into  which  we  had  gone  the  previous  night  to 
escape  the  numerous  icebergs  that  went  grinding  by,  the  black 
smoke,  and  later  the  spars  of  the  mail  steamer  were  seen  over 
one  of  the  numerous  rocky  little  islets  that  block  the  entrance 
to  the  bight.  The  steamer's  flag  assured  us  that  it  was  certainly 
the  mail  steamer,  and  many  and  anxious  were  the  surmises  as  to 
whether  our  rivals  were  on  board,  and  earnest  were  the  prayers 
for  a  strong  and  favoring  wind.  It  soon  came,  and  we  bowled 
along  at  a  rattling  pace,  our  spirits  rising  as  we  could  see  the 
steamer,  in  shore,  gradually  dropping  astern.  Towards  night 
we  neared  Domino  Run,  and  losing  sight  of  the  steamer,  which 
turned  out  to  make  a  stop  at  some  wretched  little  hamlet  that 
had  been  shut  out  from  the  outer  world  for  nine  months,  at 
about  the  same  time  lost  our  breeze  also.  But  the  wind  might 
rise  again,  and  time  was  precious,  so  a  bright  lookout  was  kept 
for  bergs,  and  we  drifted  on  through  the  night.  The  next 
morning  a  fringe  of  islands  shut  our  competitor  from  sight,  but 
after  an  aggravating  calm  in  the  mouth  of  the  inlet,  we  felt  a 
breeze  and  rushed  up  towards  Rigolette,  only  to  meet  the  steamer 
coming  out  while  we  were  yet  several  hours  from  that  place. 


RIGOLETTB.  19 

Here  we  had  our  first  experience  with  the  immense  deer-flies 
of  Labrador.  Off  Mt.  Gnat  they  came  in  swarms  and  for  self- 
protection  each  man  armed  himself  with  a  small  wooden  paddle 
and  slapped  at  them  right  and  left,  on  the  deck,  the  rail,  another 
fellow's  back  or  head,  in  fact,  wherever  one  was  seen  to  alight. 
The  man  at  the  wheel  was  doubly  busy,  protecting  himself,  with 
the  assistance  of  ready  volunteers,  from  their  lance-like  bites, 
and  steering  the  quickly  moving  vessel. 

At  last  the  white  buildings  and  flag-staff  which  mark  all  the 
Hudson  Bay  Co.'s  posts  in  Labrador,  came  in  sight,  snugly  nestled 
in  a  little  cove,  beneath  a  high  ridge  lying  just  to  the  north-west 
of  it,  and  soon  we  were  at  anchor.  Our  intention  was  to  get 
into  the  cove,  but  the  six  knot  current  swept  us  by  the  mouth 
before  the  failing  breeze  enabled  us  to  get  in. 

After  supper  the  necessary  formal  call  was  made  on  the  factor, 
Mr.  Bell,  by  the  professor,  armed  with  a  letter  of  introduction 
from  the  head  of  the  company  in  London,  and  escorted  by  three 
or  four  of  the  party.  A  rather  gruff  reception,  at  first  met  with, 
became  quite  genial,  when  it  appeared  that  we  wanted  no  assist- 
ance save  a  pilot,  and  called  only  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance 
of  the  most  important  official  in  Labrador. 

With  a  promise  to  renew  the  acquaintance  upon  our  return, 
we  left,  and  after  a  hard  pull  and  an  exciting  moment  in  getting 
the  boat  fast  alongside,  on  account  of  the  terrific  current,  we 
reached  the  deck  and  reported. 

Our  rivals  were  there,  and  had  hired  the  only  available  boat 
and  crew  to  transport  them  to  North  West  River.  This  threw 
us  back  on  our  second  plan,  viz :  to  take  our  party  right  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Grand  River  ourselves,  which  involved  a  trip 
inland  of  one  hundred  miles  to  the  head  of  Lake  Melville. 
This  it  was  decided  to  do,  and  after  some  delay  in  securing  a 
pilot,  owing  to  the  transfer  at  the  last  moment  of  the  affections 
of  the  first  man  we  secured  to  the  other  party,  John  Blake  came 
aboard  and  we  started  on  our  new  experience  in  inland  naviga- 
tion. Just  as  we  entered  the  narrows,  after  a  stop  at  John's 
house  to  tell  his  wife  where  we  were  taking  him,  and  to  give  her 
some  medicine  and  advice  from  the  doctor,  we  saw  our  rivals 


20  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

starting  in  the  boat  they  had  secured.  That  was  the  last  we 
saw  of  them,  till  they  reached  North  West  River,  two  days  after 
our  party  had  started  up  the  Grand  River. 

North  West  River  is  the  name  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.'s  post  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river  of  the  same  name,  flowing  into  the  western 
extremity  of  Lake  Melville,  about  fifteen  miles  north  of  the 
mouth  of  Grand  River.  Hamilton  Inlet  proper  extends  about 
forty  miles  in  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  "  Narrows,"  a  few  miles 
beyond  Rigolette,  where  Lake  Melville  begins.  A  narrow  arm 
of  the  lake  extends  some  unexplored  distance  east  of  the 
Narrows,  south  of  and  parallel  to  the  southern  shore  of  the 
inlet.  The  lake  varies  from  five  to  forty  miles  in  width  and  is 
ninety  miles  long,  allowing  room  for  an  extended  voyage  in  its 
capacious  bosom.  The  water  is  fresh  enough  to  drink  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  lake,  and  at  the  time  of  our  visit  was  far 
pleasanter  and  less  arctic  for  bathing  than  the  water  off"  any 
point  of  the  Maine  coast.  About  twenty  miles  from  the  Nar- 
rows a  string  of  islands,  rugged  and  barren,  but  beautiful  for 
their  very  desolation,  as  is  true  of  so  much  of  Labrador,  nearly 
block  the  way,  but  we  found  the  channels  deep  and  clear,  and 
St.  John's  towering  peak  makes  an  excellent  guide  to  the  most 
direct  passage. 

One  night  was  spent  under  way,  floating  quietly  on  the  lake, 
so  delightfully  motionless  after  the  restless  movements  of  Atlan- 
tic seas.  A  calm  and  bright  day  following',  during  which  the 
one  pleasant  swim  in  Labrador  waters  was  taken  by  two  of  us, 
was  varied  by  thunder  squalls  and  ended  in  fog  and  drizzle, 
causing  us  to  anchor  off"  the  abrupt  break  in  the  continuous 
ridge  along  the  northern  shore,  made  by  the  Muligatawney 
River.  Although  in  an  insecure  and  exposed  anchorage,  yet 
the  fact  that  we  were  in  an  inclosed  lake  gave  a  sense  of  security 
to  the  less  experienced,  that  the  snug  and  rocky  harbors  to 
which  we  had  become  accustomed,  usually  failed  to  give  on 
account  of  the  roaring  of  the  surf  a  few  hundred  yards  away, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  narrow  barrier  that  protected  the  rocky 
basin. 


UNIVERSn 

or 

j^jllF  OR  K 

MONTAGNAIS   INDIANS.  21 

The  following  day  was  bright  and  showery  by  turns,  but  the 
heart's  wish  of  our  Grand  River  men  was  granted,  and  while  the 
schooner  lay  off  the  shoals  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  they  were 
to  make  famous,  they  started  as  will  be  described,  and  the  rest 
of  the  expedition  turned  towards  North  West  River,  hoping 
they,  too,  could  now  get  down  to  their  real  work. 

The  noble  little  vessel  was  reluctant  to  leave  any  of  her  freight 
in  so  desolate  a  place,  in  such  frail  boats  as  the  Rushtons 
seemed,  and  in  the  calm  between  the  thunder  squalls,  several 
times  turned  towards  them,  as  they  energetically  pushed  up  the 
river's  mouth,  and  seemed  to  call  them  back  as  she  heavily 
flapped  her  white  sails.  They  kept  steadily  on,  however,  while 
the  Julia,  bowing  to  a  power  stronger  than  herself,  and  to  a 
fresh  puff  from  the  rapidly  rising  thunder  heads,  speedily 
reached  North  West  River. 

North  West  River  is  a  sportsman's  paradise.  Here  we  found 
the  only  real  summer  weather  of  the  trip,  the  thermometer 
reaching  76  °  F.  on  two  days  in  succession,  and  thunder  storms 
occurring  regularly  every  afternoon.  Our  gunners  and  fisher- 
men were  tempted  off  on  a  long  trip.  One  party  planning  to 
be  away  two  or  three  days,  but  returning  the  following  morning, 
reported  tracks  and  sounds  of  large  animals.  They  said  the 
rain  induced  them  to  return  so  soon. 

Here  we  found  a  camp  of  Montagnais  Indians,  bringing  the 
winter's  spoils  of  furs  to  trade  at  the  post  for  flour  and  powder, 
and  the  other  articles  of  civilization  that  they  are  slowly  learning 
to  use.  They  loaf  on  their  supplies  during  the  summer,  hunting 
only  enough  to  furnish  themselves  with  meat,  and  then  starve 
during  the  winter  if  game  happens  to  be  scarce.  Measurements 
were  made  of  some  twenty-five  of  this  branch  of  the  Kree  tribe, 
hitherto  unknown  to  anthropometric  science,  and  a  full  collection 
of  household  utensils  peculiar  to  their  tribe  was  procured. 
Several  of  the  Nascopee  tribe  were  with  them,  the  two  inter- 
marrying freely,  and  were  also  measured.  The  latter  are  not 
such  magnificent  specimens  of  physical  development  as  the 
Montagnais,  but  their  tribe  is  more  numerous  and  seems,  if 
anything,  better  adapted  to  thrive  in  Labrador  than  their  more 
attractive  brothers. 


22  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

The  only  remains  of  their  picturesque  national  costume  that 
we  saw,  was  the  cap.  The  women  wore  a  curious  knot  of  hair, 
about  the  size  of  a  small  egg,  over  each  ear,  while  the  men  wore 
their  hair  cut  off  straight  around,  a  few  inches  above  the 
shoulders. 

In  point  of  personal  cleanliness,  these  people  equal  any  abo- 
rigines we  have  seen,  though  their  camp  exhibited  that  supreme 
contempt  for  sanitation  that  characterizes  every  village  except 
the  Hudson  Bay  Co.'s  posts  on  the  Labrador  coast,  whether  of 
Indians,  Esquimaux  or  "  planters,"  as  the  white  and  half-breed 
settlers  are  called. 

Some  curious  scenes  were  enacted  while  the  professor  was 
trading  for  his  desired  ethnological  material.  With  inexhaust- 
ible patience  and  imperturbable  countenance,  he  sat  on  a  log, 
surrounded  by  yelping  dogs,  and  by  children  and  papooses  of 
more  or  less  tender  ages  and  scanty  raiment,  playing  on  ten  cent 
harmonicas  that  had  for  a  time  served  as  a  staple  of  trade, 
struggling  with  the  dogs  and  with  their  equally  excited  mothers 
and  sisters  for  a  sight  of  the  wonderful  basket  from  whose 
apparently  inexhaustible  depths  came  forth  yet  more  harmonicas, 
sets  of  celluloid  jewelry,  knives,  combs,  fish-hooks,  needles,  etc., 
ad  infinitum.  The  men,  whose  gravity  equalled  the  delight  of 
the  women  and  children,  held  themselves  somewhat  aloof,  seldom 
deigning  to  enter  the  circle  about  the  magic  basket,  and  making 
their  trades  in  a  very  dignified  and  careless  fashion. 

That  these  people  are  capable  of  civilization  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  Missing  the  interpreter,  without  whom  nothing  could 
be  done,  the  professor  inquired  for  him  and  learned  that  he  had 
returned  to  his  wigwam.  Upon  being  summoned  he  said  he  was 
tired  of  talking.  Thereupon  the  professor  bethought  himself 
and  asked  him  if  he  wanted  more  pay.  The  interpreter,  no 
longer  tired,  was  willing  to  talk  all  night. 

The  camp  was  in  a  bend  of  the  river  and  at  the  head  of  rapids 
about  four  miles  from  the  mouth,  up  which  we  had  to  track,  that 
is,  one  man  had  to  haul  the  boat  along  by  the  bank  with  a  small 
rope  called  a  tracking  line,  while  another  kept  her  off  the  rocks 
by  pushing  against  her  with  an  oar.  At  that  point  the  river 


A   CARRIAGE   ROAD.  23 

opened  out  into  a  beautiful  lake  from  one  to  two  miles  in  width, 
whose  further  end  we  could  not  see.  As  this  river  never  has 
been  explored  to  its  head,  we  were  surprised  that  Messrs.  Bryant 
and  Kenaston,  who  were  ready  for  their  inland  trip  about  a 
week  after  our  party  had  started  up  the  Grand  River,  had  not 
chosen  it  as  a  field  for  their  work  rather  than  follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  our  expedition. 

Of  all  Labrador  north  of  the  Straits,  North  West  River  alone 
boasts  a  carnage  road.  To  be  sure,  there  are  neither  horses 
nor  carriages  at  that  post,  but  when  Sir  Donald  A.  Smith,  at 
present  at  the  head  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.'s  interests  in  Canada, 
but  then  plain  Mr.  Smith,  factor,  was  in  charge  of  that  post  his 
energy  made  the  place  a  garden  in  the  wilderness,  and  in  addi- 
tion to  luxuries  of  an  edible  sort,  he  added  drives  in  a  carriage 
through  forest  and  by  shore,  for  about  two  miles,  on  a  well  made 
road.  Now,  we  are  informed  there  is  not  a  horse  or  cow  north 
of  Belle  Isle.  The  present  factor,  Mr.  McLaren,  is  a  shrewd 
Scotchman,  genial  and  warm-hearted  beneath  a  rather  forbidding 
exterior,  as  all  of  our  party  who  experienced  his  hospitality  can 
testify. 

In  spite  of  all  its  attractions  we  could  not  stay  at  North  West 
River.  In  five  weeks  we  were  to  meet  our  river  detail  at  Rigo- 
lette,  and  during  that  time  a  trip  north  of  400  miles  was  to  be 
made  and  the  bulk  of  the  expedition's  scientific  work  to  be  done. 

Our  day's  sail,  with  fresh  breezes  and  favoring  squalls,  took 
us  the  whole  length  of  the  delightful  lake,  whose  waters  had 
seldom  been  vexed  by  a  keel  as  long  as  the  Julia's,  and  brought 
us  to  an  anchor  off  Eskimo  Island.  Here  we  had  one  of  our 
regular  fights  with  the  mosquitoes,  the  engagement  perhaps  being 
a  trifle  hotter  than  usual,  for  they  swarmed  down  the  companion 
way  every  time  the  "  mosquito  door,"  of  netting  on  a  light 
frame  hinged  to  the  hatch  house,  was  opened,  in  brigades  and 
divisions  and  finally  by  whole  army  corps,  till  we  were  forced  to 
retreat  to  our  bunks,  drive  out  the  intruding  hosts,  which  paid 
no  respect  whatever  to  our  limited  6x3x3  private  apartments,  by 
energetically  waving  and  slapping  a  towel  around,  then  quickly 
shutting  the  door  of  netting,  also  on  a  tightly  fitting  frame,  and 


24  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

devoting  an  hour  or  two  at  our  leisure  to  demolishing  the  few 
stragglers  that  remained  within ;  or  possibly  the  whole  night,  if 
an  unknown  breach  had  been  found  by  the  wily  mosquito  some- 
where in  our  carefully  made  defenses.  A  few  bones  were  taken 
from  the  Eskimo  graves  that  abound  on  the  island,  but  the  mos- 
quitoes seriously  interfered  with  such  work  and  the  party  soon 
returned  to  the  vessel.  The  absolutely  calm  night  allowed  the 
mosquitoes  to  reach  us  and  stay ;  and  in  spite  of  its  brevity  and 
the  utter  stillness  of  the  vast  solitude  about  us,  broken  only  now 
and  then  by  a  noise  from  the  little  Halifax  trader  whose  acquaint- 
ance we  here  made  for  the  first  time,  and  of  whom  we  saw  so 
much  on  our  return  voyage  across  the  gulf,  or  by  the  howling  of 
wolves  and  Eskimo  dogs  in  the  distance,  we  were  glad  when  it 
was  over  and  a  morning  breeze  chased  from  our  decks  the  invad- 
ing hosts. 

A  short  stop  at  Rigolette,  to  send  about  fifty  letters  ashore,  a 
two  days'  delay  in  a  cold,  easterly  storm  at  Turner  Cove,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  inlet,  when  the  icy  winds,  in  contrast  to  the 
warm  weather  we  had  lately  enjoyed,  made  us  put  on  our  heavy 
clothes  and,  even  then,  shiver  —  a  delay,  however,  that  we  did 
not  grudge,  for  we  were  in  a  land  of  fish,  game  and  labradorite — 
this  of  a  poor  quality,  as  we  afterward  learned  —  and  where  the 
doctor  had  more  patients  than  he  could  easily  attend  to.  At 
last  a  pleasant  Sunday's  run  to  Indian  Harbor  got  us  clear  of 
Hamilton  Inlet.  There  we  found  the  usual  complement  of  fish 
and  fishing  apparatus,  but  with  the  addition  of  a  few  Yankee 
vessels  and  a  church  service. 

The  latter  we  were  quite  surprised  to  find,  and  several  went, 
out  of  curiosity,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  a  small  room, 
packed  with  about  fifty  human  beings,  with  no  ventilation  what- 
ever, and  of  sitting  on  seats  about  four  inches  wide  with  no 
backs.  The  people  were  earnest  and  respectful,  but  did  not 
seem  to  understand  all  that  was  said,  as,  perhaps,  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  since  they  are  the  poorest  class  of  Newfoundlanders. 

Indian  Harbor  is  like  so  many  others  on  the  coast,  merely  a 
"  tickle  "  with  three  ticklish  entrances  full  of  sunken  rocks  and 
treacherous  currents.  The  small  islands  that  make  the  harbor 


STORM  AND   FOG.  25 

are  simply  bare  ledges,  very  rough  and  irregular  in  outline.  The 
fishing  village,  also,  like  all  others,  consists  of  little  earthen-cov- 
ered hovels,  stuck  down  wherever  a  decently  level  spot  fifteen 
feet  square  can  be  found,  and  of  fishing  stages  running  out  from 
every  little  point  and  cove,  in  which  the  catch  is  placed  to  be 
taken  care  of,  and  alongside  of  which  the  heavy  boats  can  lie 
without  danger  of  being  smashed  by  the  undertow  that  is  con- 
tinually heaving  against  the  shore. 

A  two  days'  run  brought  us  up  to  Cape  Harrigan,  rounding 
which  we  went  into  Webeck  Harbor,  little  thinking  that  in  that 
dreary  place  storm  and  fog  would  hold  us  prisoners  for  five  days. 
That  was  our  fate,  and  even  now  we  wonder  how  we  lived 
through  that  dismal  time. 

One  day  served  to  make  us  familiar  with  the  flora,  fauna,  geog- 
raphy and  geology  of  the  region,  for  it  was  not  an  interesting 
place  from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  however  the  fishermen  may 
regard  it,  and  after  the  departure  of  the  mail  steamer,  leaving 
us  all  disappointed  in  regard  to  mail,  time  dragged  on  us  terribly. 

Two  or  three  of  the  more  venturesome  ones  could  get  a  little 
sport  by  pulling  a  long  four  miles  down  to  the  extremity  of  Cape 
Harrigan,  where  sea  pigeon  had  a  home  in  the  face  of  a  mag- 
nificent cliff,  against  the  bottom  of  which  the  gunners  had  to 
risk  being  thrown  by  the  heavy  swell  rolling  against  it,  as  they 
shot  from  a  boat  bobbing  like  a  cork,  at  "  guillemots  "  flying 
like  bullets  from  a  gun  out  of  the  face  of  the  cliff.  One  evening 
a  relief  party  was  sent  off  for  two  who  had  gone  off  to  land  on 
a  bad  lee  shore  and  were  some  hours  overdue.  To  be  sure  the 
missing  ones  arrived  very  soon,  all  right,  while  the  search  party 
got  back  considerably  later,  drenched  with  spray  and  with  their 
boat  half  full  of  water,  but  the  incident  gave  some  relief  from 
the  monotony. 

Another  evening  several  visiting  captains  and  a  few  friends 
from  ashore  were  treated  to  a  concert  by  the  Bowdoin  Glee  and 
Minstrel  Club.  All  the  old  favorites  of  from  ten  years  ago  and 
less  were  served  up  in  a  sort  of  composite  hash,  greatly  to  the 
delight  of  both  audience  and  singers. 


26  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

At  Webeck  Harbor,  which  we  came  to  pronounce  "  Wayback," 
probably  because  it  seemed  such  a  long  way  back  to  anything 
worthy  of  human  interest,  we  saw  the  business  of  catching  cod 
at  its  best.  They  had  just  "  struck  a  spurt,"  the  fishermen  said, 
and  day  after  day  simply  went  to  their  traps,  filled  their  boats 
and  bags,  took  the  catch  home,  where  the  boys  and  "  ship  girls  " 
took  charge  of  it,  and  returned  to  the  traps  to  repeat  the  process. 
An  idea  of  the  amount  of  fish  taken  may  be  given  by  the  figures 
of  the  catch  of  five  men  from  one  schooner,  who  took  one  thou- 
sand quintals  of  codfish  in  thirteen  days.  We  obtained  a  better 
idea  of  the  vast  catch  by  the  experience  of  one  of  our  parties 
who  spent  part  of  a  day  at  the  traps,  as  the  arrangement  of  nets 
along  the  shore  is  called,  into  which  the  cod  swim  and  out  of 
which  they  are  too  foolish  to  go.  They  are  on  much  the  same 
plan  as  salmon  weirs,  only  larger,  opening  both  ways,  and  being 
placed  usually  in  over  ten  fathoms  of  water  and  kept  in  place  by 
anchors,  shore  lines,  and  floats  and  sinkers.  Once  down  they 
are  usually  kept  in  place  a  whole  season.  The  party  were  in  a 
boat,  inside  the  line  of  floats,  so  interested  in  watching  the  fish- 
ermen making  the  "  haul,"  as  the  process  of  overhauling  the  net 
and  passing  it  under  the  boat  is  called,  by  which  the  fish  are 
crowded  up  into  one  corner  where  they  can  be  scooped  out  by 
the  dozen,  that  they  did  not  notice  that  the  enormous  catch  was 
being  brought  to  the  surface  directly  under  them  till  their  own 
boat  began  to  rise  out  of  the  water,  actually  being  grounded  on 
the  immense  shoal  of  codfish. 

It  was  a  strange  sensation  and  makes  a  strange  story.  All 
the  time  that  we  were  storm-stayed  at  Webeck  the  "  spurt  "  con- 
tinued, and  the  trap  owners  were  tired  but  jubilant.  The  "  hand- 
lining  "  crews  were  correspondingly  depressed,  for,  though  so 
plenty,  not  a  cod  would  bite  a  hook.  It  is  this  reason,  that  is, 
because  an  abundance  of  food  brings  the  cod  to  the  shores  in 
great  numbers  and  at  the  same  time  prevents  them  from  being 
hungry,  that  led  to  the  abandonment  of  trawling  and  the  univer- 
sal adoption  of  the  trap  method.  We  did  not  see  a  single  trawl 
on  the  coast,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  there  was  one  there  in  use. 


ABUNDANCE   OF   CODFISH.  27 

During  these  spurts,  the  day's  work  just  begins,  in  fact,  after 
the  hard  labor  of  rowing  the  heavy  boats  out,  perhaps  two  miles, 
to  the  trap,  hauling,  mending  the  net,  loading  and  unloading  the 
fish  —  always  a  hard  task  and  sometimes  a  very  difficult  one  on 
account  of  the  heavy  sea — has  been  repeated  three  or  four  times ; 
for  the  number  of  fish  is  so  great  that  the  stage  becomes  over- 
loaded by  night,  and  the  boat  crews  then  have  to  turn  to  and 
help  take  care  of  the  catch  and  clear  the  stage  for  the  next 
day's  operations.  Till  long  after  midnight  the  work  goes  mer- 
rily on  in  the  huts  or  shelters  over  the  stages,  for  the  hard  work 
then  means  no  starvation  next  winter  in  the  Newfoundland 
homes,  and  the  fish  are  split,  cleaned,  headed,  salted  and  packed 
with  incredible  rapidity. 

The  tired  crews  get  an  hour  or  two  of  sleep  just  as  they  are ; 
then,  after  a  pot  of  black  tea  and  a  handful  of  bread,  start  out 
to  begin  the  next  day's  work,  resting  and  eating  during  the  hour 
between  the  trips,  and  then  going  out  again,  and  repeating  the 
some  monotonous  round  over  and  over  till  we  wondered  how 
they  lived  through  it,  and  what  was  to  be  done  with  all  the  fish. 
When  there  is  a  good  breeze  the  boats  are  rigged  and  a  large 
part  of  the  weary  labor  of  rowing  is  escaped.  How  tired  the 
crews  would  look  as  the  big  twenty-four  feet  boats  went  dashing 
by  our  vessel  in  the  fog  and  rain,  on  the  outward  trip,  and  how 
happy,  though  if  possible  more  tired,  as  they  came  back  three 
or  four  hours  later,  loaded  to  the  gunwale  with  cod,  and  think- 
ing, perhaps,  of  the  bags  full  that  they  had  left  buoyed  near  the 
trap  because  the  boat  would  not  carry  the  whole  catch.  It  is  a 
hard  life,  and  no  wonder  the  men  are  not  much  more  than  ani- 
mals ;  but  they  work  with  dogged  persistence,  for  in  a  little 
more  than  two  months  enough  must  be  earned  to  support  their 
families  for  the  year.  When  the  "  spurt "  ends  the  crews  get  a 
much  needed  rest,  and  attend  to  getting  a  supply  of  salt  ashore 
from  the  salt  vessel  from  Cadiz,  Spain,  one  of  which  we  found 
lying  in  nearly  every  fishing  harbor,  serving  as  a  storehouse  for 
that  article  so  necessary  to  the  fishermen. 

As  to  the  magnitude  of  the  industry,  it  is  estimated  that  there 
are  about  3,000  vessels  and  20,000  men  employed  in  it  during 


28  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

the  season.  Some  of  the  vessels  are  employed  in  merely  bring- 
ing salt  and  taking  away  the  fish,  notably  the  great  iron  tramp 
steamers  of  from  1,500  to  2,000  tons,  which  seem  so  much  out 
of  place  moored  to  the  sides  of  some  of  the  little  rocky  harbors. 
The  average  catch  in  a  good  year  is,  we  were  informed,  from 
four  to  six  hundred  quintals  in  a  vessel  of  perhaps  forty  tons, 
by  a  crew  of  from  four  to  eight  men.  The  trap  outfit  costs 
about  $500  and  is  furnished  by  the  large  fish  firms  in  Newfound- 
land, to  be  paid  for  with  fish.  As  the  market  price,  to  the  fish- 
ermen, is  from  five  dollars  to  six  dollars  a  quintal,  the  value  of 
the  industry  is  at  once  apparent. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  fish  go  to  Mediterranean  ports  direct, 
to  Catholic  countries,  chiefly,  and  also  to  Brazil.  The  small 
size  and  imperfect  curing  which  the  Labrador  summer  allows 
make  the  fish  almost  unsalable  in  English  and  American  mar- 
kets. Many  of  the  cod  are  of  the  black,  Greenland  variety, 
which  are  far  less  palatable,  and  are  usually  thrown  away  or 
cured  separately  for  the  cheaper  market. 

All  storms  come  to  an  end  finally,  and  at  last  the  sun  shone, 
the  windlass  clanked  and  we  were  underway.  The  long  delay 
seemed  to  have  broken  our  little  schooner's  spirits,  for  after 
being  out  three  or  four  hours  we  had  gone  but  as  many  miles, 
and  those  in  the  wrong  direction. 

At  length  the  gentle  breeze  seemed  to  revive  her  and  we 
gently  slipped  by  the  Ragged  Islands  and  Cape  Mokkavik. 
That  Sunday  evening  will  long  be  remembered  by  us,  for  in 
addition  to  the  delight  we  felt  at  again  moving  northward,  and 
the  charm  of  a  bright  evening  with  a  gentle,  fair  wind  and 
smooth  water,  allowing  us  to  glide  by  hundreds  of  fulmar  and 
shearwater  sitting  on  the  water,  scarcely  disturbed  by  our  pas- 
sage, the  moon  was  paled  by  the  brightest  exhibition  of  the 
aurora  we  saw  while  in  northern  waters.  Its  sudden  darts  into 
new  quarters  of  the  heavens,  its  tumultuous  waves  and  gentle 
undulations,  now  looking  like  a  fleecy  cloud,  now  like  a  gigantic 
curtain  shaken  by  still  more  gigantic  hands  into  ponderous  folds 
—  all  were  reflected  in  the  quiet  water  and  from  the  numerous 
bergs,  great  and  small,  that  dotted  the  surface,  till  the  beholder 


HOPEDALE.  29 

was  at  times  awe-struck  and  silent,  utterly  unable  to  find  words 
with  which  to  express  himself. 

The  next  day  we  rounded  Gull  Island,  which  we  identified 
with  some  difficulty,  owing  to  the  absence  of  the  flagstaff  by 
which  the  coast  pilot  says  it  can  be  distinguished,  and,  after  a 
delightful  sail  up  the  clear  sound  leading  through  the  fringe  of 
islands  to  Hopedale,  we  spied  the  red-roofed  houses  and  earth- 
covered  huts,  the  mission  houses  and  Eskimo  village,  of  which 
the  settlement  consists,  snugly  hidden  behind  little  "  Anatokavit," 
or  little  Snow  Hill  Island,  at  the  foot  of  a  steep  and  lofty  hill 
surmounted  by  the  mission  flagstaff".  Here  we  were  destined  to 
pass  five  days  as  pleasant  as  the  five  at  Webeck  had  been  tedious. 

The  harbor  at  Hopedale  is  the  best  one  we  visited  on  the 
coast.  The  twelve  miles  of  sound,  fringed  and  studded  with 
islands,  completely  broke  the  undertow  which  had  kept  our  ves- 
sel constantly  rolling,  when  at  anchor,  in  every  harbor  except 
those  up  Hamilton  Inlet  and  Lake  Melville. 

About  two  miles  south  of  us  a  vast,  unexplored  bay  ran  for  a 
long  distance  inland,  while  to  the  north,  looking  from  Flagstaff 
Peak,  we  could  see  Cape  Harrigan  and  the  shoals  about  it,  the 
numberless  inlets,  coves  and  bays  which  fill  in  the  sixty  miles  to 
Nain.  We  were  very  much  disappointed  at  our  inability  to  go 
north  to  that  place,  but  before  our  start  from  the  United  States 
Hopedale  had  been  named  as  the  point  with  which  we  would  be 
content  if  ice  and  winds  allowed  us  to  reach  it,  and  that  point 
proved  the  northern  limit  of  our  voyage. 

About  half  a  mile  across  the  point  of  land  on  which  the  mis- 
sionary settlement  lies,  is  the  site  of  the  pre-historic  village  of 
"  Avatoke,"  which  means  "  may-we-have-seals."  It  consisted 
of  three  approximately  circular  houses,  in  line  parallel  with  the 
shore,  at  the  head  of  a  slight  cove,  backed  to  the  west  by  a 
high  hill,  and  with  a  fine  beach  in  front,  now  raised  considerably 
from  the  sea  level.  Along  the  front  of  the  row  of  houses  were 
immense  shell  heaps,  from  which  we  dug  ivory,  that  is,  walrus 
teeth ;  carvings,  stone  lamps,  spear  heads,  portions  of  kyaks, 
whips,  komatiks,  as  the  sleds  are  called,  etc.,  etc.,  and  bones 
innumerable  of  all  the  varieties  of  birds,  fish  and  game  on  which 


30  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

the  early  Eskimo  dined ;  as  well  as  remnants  of  all  the  imple- 
ments which  Eskimos  used  in  the  household  generations  ago, 
and  which  can  nearly  all  now  be  recognized  by  the  almost  iden- 
tically shaped  and  made  implements  in  the  houses  of  Eskimos 
there  in  Hopedale,  so  little  do  they  change  in  the  course  of 
centuries.  The  village  has  been  completely  deserted  for  over 
one  hundred  years,  and  was  in  its  prime  centuries  before  that, 
so  the  tales  of  its  greatness  are  only  dim  Eskimo  traditions. 

The  houses  were  found  to  average  about  thirty-five  feet  across 
on  the  inside ;  are  separated  by  a  space  of  about  fifteen  feet, 
and  each  had  a  long,  narrow  doorway  or  entrance,  being  almost 
exactly  in  line.  The  walls  are  about  fifteen  feet  thick  and  now 
about  five  feet  high,  of  earth,  with  the  gravel  beach  for  a  foun- 
dation. The  inside  of  the  wall  was  apparently  lined  with  some- 
thing resembling  a  wooden  bench.  When,  in  one  of  the  houses, 
the  remains  of  the  dirt  and  stone  roof  that  had  long  since  crushed 
down  the  rotten  poles  and  seal  skins  that  made  the  framework 
and  first  covering,  had  been  carefully  removed,  the  floor  was 
found  to  be  laid  with  flagstones,  many  three  or  four  feet  across, 
closely  fitted  at  the  edges  and  well  laid  in  the  gravel  so  as  to 
make  a  smooth,  even  floor.  This  extended  to  the  remains  of 
the  bench  at  the  sides,  and  made  a  dwelling  which  for  Eskimo 
land  must  have  been  palatial.  The  evidences  of  fire  showed  the 
hearth  to  have  been  near  the  center  of  the  floor,  a  little  towards 
the  entrance,  in  order  to  get  the  most  from  its  heat.  The  Hope- 
dale  Eskimo  were  themselves  surprised  at  the  stone  floor,  but 
one  old  man  remembered  that  he  had  been  told  that  such  floors 
were  used  long  ago,  in  the  palmier  days  of  Eskimo  history,  if 
such  an  expression  is  fitting  for  an  arctic  people. 

A  village  arranged  on  a  similar  plan,  except  that  the  houses 
were  joined  together,  was  found  to  constitute  the  supposed 
remains  of  a  settlement  on  Eskimo  Island  in  Lake  Melville. 

In  both  cases  the  front  of  the  row  is  towards  the  east,  and  the 
houses  are  dug  down  to  sand  on  the  inside,  making  their  floors 
somewhat  below  the  level  of  the  ground. 

A  more  thorough  investigation  than  we  were  able  to  make  of 
the  remains  at  Eskimo  Island  would  undoubtedly  yield  much  of 


ESKIMOS.  31 

interest  and  value,  for  they  were  if  anything  even  older  than 
those  at  Hopedale,  probably  having  been  abandoned  after  the 
battle  between  Eskimo  and  Indians,  fought  on  the  same  island, 
which  has  now  become  a  tradition  among  the  people. 

Five  days  were  spent  in  this  most  interesting  ethnological 
work,  and  hard  days  they  were,  too,  as  well  as  interesting,  for 
the  mosquitoes,  black  flies  and  midges  were  always  with  us ; 
but  on  the  other  hand,  the  Eskimo  interpreter  was  continually 
describing  some  national  custom  which  some  find  would  suggest 
to  him,  and  very  ingenious  he  proved  to  be  in  naming  finds 
which  we  were  entirely  ignorant  of  or  unable  to  identify. 

The  race  as  a  whole  is  exceedingly  ingenious,  quick  to  learn, 
handy  with  tools,  and  also  ready  at  mastering  musical  instru- 
ments. One  of  the  best  carpenters  on  the  Labrador  is  an 
Eskimo  at  Aillik,  from  whom  we  bought  a  kyak ;  and  at  Hope- 
dale  in  the  winter  they  have  a  very  fair  brass  band.  The  art  of 
fine  carving,  however,  seems  to  he  dying  out  among  them,  and 
now  there  is  but  one  family,  at  Nain,  who  do  anything  of  the 
sort  worthy  the  name  of  carving.  Prof.  Lee  obtained  several 
very  fine  specimens  for  the  Bowdoin  cabinets,  but  as  a  rule  it  is 
very  high  priced  and  rare.  Most  of  it  is  taken  to  London  by 
the  Moravian  mission  ship,  and  has  found  its  way  into  English 
and  Continental  museums.  The  figures  of  dogs,  of  Eskimos 
themselves,  as  well  as  of  kyaks  and  komatiks,  seals,  walrus, 
arctic  birds  and  the  like  are  most  exquisitely  done. 

The  mission  itself  deserves  a  brief  description.  It  was 
founded  in  1782  and  has  been  steadily  maintained  by  the  Mora- 
vian society  for  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  and  is  now  nearly 
self-supporting.  There  are  three  missions  of  the  society  in 
Labrador,  the  one  at  Nain  being  the  chief  and  the  residence  of 
the  director,  but  Hopedale  is  very  important  as  it  is  the  place 
where  the  debasing  influence  of  the  traders  and  fishermen  is 
most  felt  by  the  Eskimo,  and  the  work  of  the  missionaries  con- 
sequently made  least  welcome  to  them.  However,  they  have 
persevered,  in  the  German  fashion,  and  seem  to  have  a  firm  hold 
on  the  childlike  people  which  the  seductions  of  the  traders 
cannot  shake  off. 


32  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

There  are  five  missionaries  now  stationed  at  Hopedale :  Mr. 
Townly,  an  Englishman,  whose  work  is  among  the  "  planters  " 
and  fishermen ;  Mr.  Hansen,  the  pastor  of  the  Eskimo  church ; 
and  Mr.  Kaestner,  the  head  of  the  mission,  and  in  special  charge 
of  the  store  and  trading,  by  which  the  mission  is  made  nearly 
self-supporting ;  Mrs.  Kaestner  and  Mrs.  Hansen  complete  the 
number,  and  the  five  make  up  a  community  almost  entirely  iso- 
lated from  white  people  during  nine  months  of  every  year. 

The  fact  that  the  two  ladies  spoke  very  little  English  was 
somewhat  of  a  drawback,  but  detracted  very  slightly  from  our 
enjoyment  of  Mrs.  Hanson's  delightful  singing  and  none  at  all 
from  our  appreciation  of  her  playing  on  the  piano  and  organ. 
To  get  such  a  musical  treat  in  the  Labrador  wilds  was  most 
unexpected  and  for  that  reason  all  the  more  thoroughly  enjoyed. 

The  mission  house  is  a  yellow,  barn-like  building,  heavily 
built  to  prevent  its  being  blown  away,  snugly  stowed  beneath  a 
hill,  and  seeming  like  a  mother  round  which  the  huts  of  the 
Eskimo  cluster.  The  rooms  in  which  we  were  so  pleasantly 
entertained  were  very  comfortably  and  tastily  furnished,  a  grand 
piano  in  one  of  them  seeming  out  of  place  in  a  village  of  Lab- 
rador, but  so  entirely  in  harmony  with  its  immediate  surround- 
ings that  we  hardly  thought  of  the  strangeness  of  it,  within  a 
few  yards  of  a  village  of  pure  Eskimo,  living  in  all  their  primi- 
tive customs  and  in  their  own  land. 

A  few  rods  behind  the  mission  are  the  gardens,  cut  up  into 
small  squares  by  strong  board  fences  to  prevent  the  soil  from 
blowing  away,  each  with  a  tarpaulin  near  by  to  spread  over  it  at 
night.  In  this  laborious  way  potatoes,  cabbages  and  turnips  are 
raised.  In  a  large  hothouse  the  missionaries  raise  tomatoes, 
lettuce,  and  also  flowers,  but  for  everything  else,  except  fish, 
game  and  ice,  they  have  to  depend  on  the  yearly  visit  of  the 
Moravian  mission  ship.  She  left  for  Nain  just  the  day  before 
we  reached  Hopedale,  and  after  unloading  supplies,  etc.,  there, 
she  proceeds  north,  collecting  furs  and  fish  until  loaded,  and 
then  goes  to  London. 

About  fifty  Eskimos  were  measured  and  collections  made  of 
their  clothing,  implements  of  war  and  chase  and  household 


TICKLES.  33 

utensils,  which  are  the  best  of  our  collections,  for  the  World's 
Fair  and  the  Bowdoin  museums. 

After  spending  these  five  pleasant  and  profitable  days  at 
Hopedale,  and  regretfully  looking  out  by  Cape  Harrigan,  to 
Nain,  whose  gardens  are  the  seventh  wonder  of  Labrador, 
through  which,  reports  say,  one  can  walk  for  two  miles,  and 
whose  missionaries,  warned  of  our  coming,  were  making  ready 
to  give  us  a  warm  reception  ;  and  near  it  Paul's  Island,  on  which 
was  so  much  of  interest  to  our  party;  all  this  we  thought  of 
mournfully  as  our  vessel's  head  was  pointed  southward  and  we 
sped  along,,  reluctant  on  this  account,  and  yet  eager  to  hear  of 
the  success  of  our  boldest  undertaking,  the  Grand  River  explor- 
ation party. 

At  Aillik,  where  there  is  an  abandoned  Hudson  Bay  Co.'s 
post,  we  measured  a  few  more  Eskimo,  obtained  a  kyak,  which 
a  day  or  two  later  nearly  became  a  cofHn  to  one  of  our  party, 
and  tried  a  trout  stream  that  proved  the  best  we  found  in  Lab- 
rador. In  about  an  hour,  three  of  our  party  caught  over  eighty 
magnificent  trout,  and,  naturally,  returned  much  elated. 

The  next  day  we  poked  the  Julia's  inquisitive  nose  into  one 
or  two  so-called  but  misnamed  harbors  that  afforded  very  little 
shelter,  and  had  a  threatening  and  deserted  look  which,  although 
the  characteristic  of  the  Labrador  shore  in  general,  has  never 
been  noticeable  in  the  harbors  we  have  visited.  Many  of  them 
are  very  small,  and  in  some  it  is  necessary  to  lay  quite  close  to 
the  rocks,  but  yet  we  have  had  no  trouble  from  the  extremely 
deep  water  that  we  were  told  we  should  have  to  anchor  in,  nor 
yet  from  getting  into  harbors  so  small  that  it  was  hard  to  get 
out  of  them. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  experience  has  taught  the  fishermen  to 
use  "  tickles,"  as  narrow  passages  are  called,  for  harbors,  that 
there  may  always  be  a  windward  and  a  leeward  entrance.  In  a 
few  cases  where  the  harbor  is  too  small  to  beat  out  of,  and  has 
no  leeward  entrance,  we  have  found  heavy  ring  bolts  fastened 
into  proper  places  in  the  cliffs,  to  which  vessels  can  make  their 
lines  fast,  and  warp  themselves  into  weatherly  position  from 
which  a  course  can  be  laid  out  of  the  harbor. 


34  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABEADOK. 

Meanwhile  we  are  again  approaching  the  Ragged  Islands, 
which  we  passed  just  as  we  were  beginning  that  memorable 
Sunday  evening  sail,  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  place  we  so 
much  dread,  Webeck  Harbor. 

On  them  we  found  the  only  gravel  bed  we  saw  in  Labrador, 
and  yet  their  name  is  due  to  the  rough  piled  basaltic  appearing 
rock,  that  proved  on  close  examination  to  be  much  weathered 
sienite  and  granite.  The  harbor  is  an  open  place  amidst  a 
cluster  of  rocky  islets,  and  we  found  it  literally  packed  with 
fishing  vessels.  Here  an  afternoon  was  spent  making  pictures 
and  examining  the  geology  of  these  interesting  islands,  and  here 
the  adventure  of  the  kyak,  before  referred  to,  took  place. 

Our  fur  trader  thought  he  would  take  a  paddle,  but  had  not 
gone  three  lengths  before  he  found  that  he  was  more  expert  in 
dealing  with  Eskimo  furs  than  in  handling  Eskimo  boats.  He 
rolled  over,  was  soon  pulled  alongside,  and  clearing  himself 
from  the  kyak  climbed  aboard,  just  as  our  gallant  mate,  his  res- 
cuer, rolled  out  of  his  dory  into  the  water  and  took  a  swim  on 
his  own  account.  All  hands  were  nearly  exploded  with  laughter 
as  he  rolled  himself  neatly  into  the  dory  again  and  climbed 
aboard,  remarking,  "That's  the  way  to  climb  into  a  dory  without 
capsizing  her,"  as  he  ruefully  shook  himself.  We  wanted  to  ask 
him  if  that  was  the  only  way  to  get  out  of  a  dory  without  turn- 
ing her  over,  but  we  forebore. 

The  next  morning  as  we  got  clear  of  the  harbor,  a  trim  look- 
ing schooner  of  our  size  was  sighted  just  off  Cape  Harrigan, 
about  ten  miles  ahead.  The  breeze  freshening  we  gradually 
overhauled  her,  and  finally,  while  beating  into  Holton  harbor, 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  entrances  on  the  coast,  by  the  way, 
we  passed  her,  and  noticing  her  neat  rig  and  appearance  guessed 
rightly  we  had  beaten  the  representatives  of  the  Newfoundland 
law  and  the  collector  of  her  revenues  from  this  coast. 

Mr.  Burgess,  who  combines  in  one  unassuming  personage  the 
tax  and  customs  collector,  the  magistrate  and  the  commissioner 
of  poor  relief  from  Labrador,  afterward  told  us  that  the  "Rose" 
had  been  on  the  coast  for  thirteen  years  and  had  been  outsailed 
for  the  first  time.  The  next  morning  we  again  beat  her  badly, 


PUFFINS   AND   AUKS.  35 

in  working  up  to  Indian  Harbor,  and  only  then  would  he  acknowl- 
edge himself  fairly  beaten. 

Saturday,  the  22d  of  August,  having  yet  three  days  before 
we  were  due  at  Rigolette  to  meet  our  Grand  River  party,  we 
made  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  puffins  and  auks  of  the 
Heron  Islands  by  spending  three  or  four  hours  there  and  taking 
aboard  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  of  them.  Many  more 
of  them  were  killed  but  dropped  into  inaccessible  places  or  into 
the  water  and  could  not  be  saved. 

The  sound  of  the  fusilade  from  over  twenty  gunners  must 
have  resembled  a  small  battle,  but  it  did  not  drive  the  birds 
away,  and  as  we  left  they  seemed  thicker  than  ever.  Not  only 
was  the  air  alive  with  them,  but  as  one  walked  along  the  cliffs 
they  would  dart  swiftly  out  of  holes  in  the  rocks  or  crevices,  so 
the  earth,  too,  seemed  full  of  them.  It  was  great  sport  for  a 
time,  but  soon  seemed  too  much  like  slaughter,  and  we  would 
let  the  awkard  puffins,  with  their  foolish  eyes  and  Roman 
noses,  come  blundering  along  within  a  few  feet  of  our  muzzles, 
and  chose  rather  the  graceful,  swift  motioned  auks  and  guillemots, 
whose  rapid  flight  made  them  far  more  sportsmanlike  game. 

The  next  day,  though  Sunday,  had  to  be  spent  in  taking 
care  of  the  best  specimens,  and  the  game  was  not  fully  disposed 
of  for  several  days.  Our  bill  of  fare  was  correspondingly  im- 
proved for  a  few  days. 

Three  days  were  consumed  in  beating  up  to  Rigolette.  At 
Indian  Harbor  we  had  heard  rumors  of  the  return  of  some 
party  from  Grand  River  on  account  of  injuries  received  by  one 
of  the  men,  but  the  description  applied  best  to  the  second 
party,  and  we  decided  it  must  refer  to  Bryant  or  Kenaston. 
.Near  Turner's  Cove  we  found  more  rumors,  but  nothing 
definite  enough  to  satisfy  our  growing  anxiety,  and  at  last, 
unable  to  bear  the  suspense  any  longer,  three  of  the  party  took 
a  boat  and  started  to  row  the  fifteen  miles  between  us  and 
Rigolette,  while  the  vessel  waited  for  a  change  of  tide  and 
a  breeze. 

Alternate  hope  and  fear  lent  strength  to  our  arms  as  we 
drove  the  light  boat  along,  and  soon  we  came  in  sight  of  the 


36  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

wharf.  There  we  saw  a  ragged  looking  individual,  smoking  a 
very  short  and  black  clay  pipe,  with  one  arm  in  a  sling,  who 
seemed  to  recognize  us,  and  waved  his  hat  vigorously  with  his 
well  arm.  Soon  we  recognized  Young  and  were  pumping  away 
at  his  well  hand  in  our  delight  at  finding  his  injuries  no  worse, 
and  that  Gary  and  Cole  were  yet  pushing  on,  determined  to 
accomplish  their  object. 

Yonng's  hand  had  been  in  a  critical  state ;  the  slight  injury 
first  received  unconsciously,  from  exposure  and  lack  of  atten- 
tion had  caused  a  swelling  of  his  hand  and  arm  that  was  both 
extremely  painful  and  dangerous,  and  which,  the  doctor  said, 
would  have  caused  the  loss  of  the  thumb,  or  possibly  of  the 
whole  hand,  had  it  gone  uncared  for  much  longer.  Of  course 
it  was  impossible  to  leave  a  man  in  such  a  condition,  or  to  send 
him  back  alone.  So  Smith  very  regretfully  volunteered  to 
turn  back — at  a  point  where  a  few  days  more  were  expected  to 
give  a  sight  of  the  Falls,  and  when  all  thought  the  hardest 
work  of  the  Grand  River  party  had  been  accomplished — and 
accompany  Young  back  to  Rigolette. 

It  was  a  great  sacrifice  of  Smith's  personal  desires,  to  be  one 
of  the  re-discoverers  of  the  falls,  to  the  interests  of  the  expedi- 
tion, and  it  involved  a  great  deal  of  hard  work,  for,  after  pad- 
dling and  rowing  all  day,  he  had  to  build  and  break  camp 
every  night  and  morning,  as  Young's  hand  grew  steadily  worse 
and  was  all  he  conld  attend  to.  At  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
which  was  reached  in  shorter  time  than  was  expected,  and 
without  accident,  Young  obtained  some  relief  from  applica- 
tions of  spruce  gum  to  his  hand  by  Joe  Michelini,  a  trapper  and 
hunter,  famous  for  his  skill  in  all  Labrador.  Northwest  River 
was  reached  the  following  day,  and  after  a  few  days  of  rest  for 
Smith,  during  which  time  Young's  injury  began  to  mend  also 
under  the  influences  of  rest  and  shelter,  they  hired  a  small 
schooner  boat  to  take  them  to  Rigolette.  On  the  passage  they 
were  struck  by  a  squall  in  the  night,  nearly  swamped,  and  com- 
pelled to  cut  the  Rushton  boatadrift  inorderto  save  themselves. 
The  next  day  they  searched  the  leeward  shore  of  the  lake  in 
vain,  and  had  to  go  on  without  her,  arriving  at  Rigolette  with- 


ANXIOUS   WAITING.  37 

out  further  accident,  and  had  been  there  about  a  week  when  we 
arrived.  The  boat  was  picked  up  later  in  a  badly  damaged 
condition,  and  given  to  the  finder. 

While  Young  outlined  his  experience  we  hunted  up  Smith, 
who  had  been  making  himself  useful  as  a  clerk  to  the  factor  at 
the  Post,  Mr.  Bell,  and  all  went  on  board  the  Julia  as  soon  as 
she  arrived,  to  report  and  relieve  in  a  measure  the  anxiety  of 
the  professor  and  the  boys. 

The  day  appointed  for  meeting  the  river  party  was  the  day 
on  which  we  reached  Rigolette,  August  25th,  and  so  a  sharp 
lookout  was  kept  for  the  two  remaining  members  of  the  party, 
on  whom,  now,  the  failure  or  success  of  that  part  of  the  ex- 
pedition rested.  As  they  did  not  appear,  we  moved  up  to 
a  cove  near  Eskimo  Island,  at  the  eastern  end  of  Lake  Mel- 
ville, the  following  day,  and  there  spent  four  days  of  anxious 
waiting.  Some  dredging  and  geological  work  was  done,  and 
an  attempt  was  made  to  examine  more  carefully  the  re- 
mains of  the  Eskimo  village  before  referred  to  on  Eskimo 
Island,  which  some  investigators  had  thought  the  remains  of 
a  Norse  settlement.  The  turf  was  too  tough  to  break  through 
without  a  plow,  and  we  had  to  give  it  up,  doing  just  enough 
to  satisfy  ourselves  that  the  remains  were  purely  Eskimo. 

All  the  work  attempted  was  done  in  a  half-hearted  man- 
ner, for  our  thoughts  were  with  Gary  and  Cole,  and  as  the 
days  went  by  and  they  did  not  appear,  but  were  more  and 
more  overdue,  our  suspense  became  almost  unbearable. 
Added  to  this  was  the  thought  that  we  could  wait  but  a 
few  days  more  at  the  longest,  without  running  the  danger 
of  being  imprisoned  all  winter,  and  for  that  we  were  poorly 
prepared. 

The  first  day  of  September  we  moved  back  to  Rigolette  to 
get  supplies  and  make  preparations  for  our  voyage  home,  as  it 
was  positively  unsafe  to  remain  any  longer.  The  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  is  an  ugly  place  to  cross  at  any  time  in  September, 
for  in  that  month  the  chances  are  rather  against  a  small  vessel's 
getting  across  safely. 

It  was  decided  that  the  expedition  must  start  home  on  Wed- 
nesday, the  2nd,  and  that  a  relief  party  should  be  left  for  Gary 


38  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

and  Cole.  With  heavy  hearts  the  final  preparations  were  made, 
and  many  were  the  looks  cast  at  the  narrows  where  they  would 
be  seen,  were  they  to  heave  in  sight. 

At  last,  about  3.30  p.  m.  Tuesday,  the  lookout  yelled,  "  Sail 
ho  !  in  the  narrows,"  and  we  all  jumped  for  the  rigging.  They 
had  come,  almost  at  the  last  hour  of  our  waiting,  and  with  a 
feeling  of  relief  such  as  we  shall  seldom  again  experience  we 
welcomed  them  aboard  and  heard  their  story. 


BOWDOIN  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 


ON  BOARD  THE  JULIA  A.  DECKER, 
GUT  OF  CANSO. 

Bowdoin  pluck  has  overcome  Bowdoin  luck,  and  though  they 
literally  had  to  pass  through  fire  and  water,  the  Bowdoin  men, 
from  the  Bowdoin  College  Scientific  Expedition  to  Labrador 
have  done  what  Oxford  failed  to  do, and  what  was  declared  well 
nigh  impossible  by  those  best  acquainted  with  the  circumstan- 
ces and  presumably  best  judges  of  the  matter.  Austin  Gary 
and  Dennis  Cole,  Bowdoin  '87  and  '88,  respectively,  have  pro- 
ven themselves  worthy  to  be  ranked  as  explorers,  and  have 
demonstrated  anew  that  energy  and  endurance  are  not  wanting 
in  college  graduates  of  this  generation. 

A  trip  up  a  large  and  swift  river,  totally  unknown  to  maps 
in  its  upper  portions, for  three  hundred  miles,  equal  to  the  distance 
from  Brunswick,  Me.,  to  New  York  City,  in  open  fifteen  feet  boats, 
is  of  itself  an  achievement  worthy  of  remark.  But  when  to  this 
is  added  the  discovery  of  Bowdoin  Canon,  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable features  of  North  America,  the  settlement  of  the 
mystery  of  the  Grand  Falls,  and  the  bringing  to  light  of  a  navig- 
able waterway  extending  for  an  unbroken'  ninety  miles,  and 
three  hundred  miles  in  the  interior  of  an  hitherto  unknown 
country,  something  more  than  remark  is  merited. 

July  26th  the  schooner  hove  to  about  four  miles  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Grand  River,  the  shoals  rendering  a  nearer  approach  dan- 
gerous, and  the  boats  of  the  river  detachment  were  sent  over 
the  side,  taken  in  tow  by  the  yawl,  and  the  start  made  on  what 
proved  the  most  eventful  part  of  the  Labrador  expedition. 
Cheers  and  good  wishes  followed  the  three  boats  till  out  of 
hearing,  and  then  the  Julia  gathered  way  and  headed  for  North 
West  River,  while  the  party  in  the  yawl  with  the  two  Rushtons 


40  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

in  tow  put  forth  their  best  efforts  to  reach  the  mouth  of  the 
river  and  alee  before  the  approaching  squall  should  strike  them. 

The  squall  came  first,  and  as  it  blew  heavily  directly  out  of 
the  river,  we  could  simply  lay  to  and  wait  for  it  to  blow  over. 
Then  a  calm  followed  and  by  the  time  the  next  squall  struck 
we  were  in  a  comparative  lee.  After  the  heaviest  of  it  had 
passed,  the  Grand  River  boys  clambered  into  their  boats  and 
with  a  hearty  "good  by"  pulled  away  for  the  opening  close  at 
hand.  The  yawl  meantime  had  grounded  on  one  of  the  shoals, 
but  pushing  off  and  carefully  dodging  the  boulders  that  dot 
those  shallow  waters,  she  squared  away  for  North  West  River, 
following  around  the  shore,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  fresh  breeze 
reached  the  schooner  shortly  after  10  o'clock  P.  M. 

The  river  party  was  made  up  of  Austin  Gary  in  charge,  and 
W.  R.  Smith,  '90,  occupying  one  boat,  and  Dennis  Cole  and  E. 
B.  Young,  '92,  with  m  the  other,  all  strong,  rugged  fellows,  more 
or  less  acquainted  with  boating  in  rapid  water,and  well  equipped 
for  all  emergencies.  Their  outfit  included  provisions  for  five 
weeks,  flour,  meal,  buckwheat  flour,  rice,  coffee,  tea,  sugar,  beef 
extract,  tins  of  pea  soup,  beef  tongue,  and  preserves.  They 
were  provided  with  revolvers,  a  shot  gun  and  a  rifle, and  suffi- 
cient ammunition,  intending  to  eke  out  the  stores  with  what- 
ever game  came  in  their  way,  although  the  amount  of  time 
given  them  would  not  allow  much  hunting.  All  the  sup- 
plies, including  the  surveying,  measuring  and  meteorological 
instruments,  were  either  in  tins  or  in  water-tight  wrappings,while 
the  bedding  and  clothing  were  protected  by  rubber  blankets. 
The  boats,  made  by  Rushton,  the  Adirondack  boat-builder, 
were  of  cedar,  fifteen  feet  long,  five  feet  wide, double-ended,  and 
weighed  eighty  pounds  apiece.  A  short  deck  at  each  end  of  the 
boats  covered  copper  air-tanks,  which  made  life-boats  of  them 
and  added  much  to  their  safety.  Each  boat  was  equipped  with 
a  pair  of  oars,  a  paddle  and  about  one  hundred  feet  of  small  line 
for  tracking  purposes.  Proceeding  about  three  miles  the  first 
camp  was  made  on  the  south  shore  of  Goose  Bay,  amid  an 
abundance  of  mosquitoes.  The  next  day  twenty-five  miles  were 
made  through  shoals  that  nearly  close  the  river's  mouth,  leaving 


GRAND    RIVER.  41 

but  one  good  channel  through  which  the  water  flows  very  swiftly , 
by  the  house  of  Joe  Michelin,  the  trapper,  at  which  six  weeks 
later  two  very  gaunt  and  much  used  up  men  were  most  hospita- 
bly received.  Here  another  night  was  spent  almost  without 
sleep,  owing  to  the  mosquitoes. 

Tuesday  a  large  Indian  camp  was  passed,  the  big  "pool,"  at 
the  foot  of  the  first  falls  and  some  three  miles  long,  rowed 
across,  and  at  noon  the  carry  was  begun.  It  was  necessary  to 
make  seventeen  trips  and  four  and  one  half  hours  were  used  in  the 
task.  When  the  last  load  had  been  deposited  at  the  upper  end  of 
the  carry,  the  men  threw  themselves  down  on  the  bank  utterly 
weary,  and  owing  to  the  loss  of  sleep  the  two  previous  nights, 
were  soon  all  sound  asleep.  In  consequence  camp  was  made 
here,  and  the  first  comfortable  night  of  the  trip  passed.  In- 
cluding the  carry  eight  miles  was  the  day's  advance. 

The  twenty-five  miles  of  the  next  day  were  made  rowing  and 
tracking  up  the  Porcupine  rapids' through  a  series  of  small  lakes, 
one  with  a  little  island  in  the  centre  deceiving  our  *  boys  for 
awhile  into  thinking  they  had  reached  Gull  Island  Lake,  and 
then  up  another  short  rapid  at  the  head  of  which  the  party  en- 
camped. 

Sixteen  miles  were  made  next  day  by  alternate  rowing  and 
tracking,  the  foot  of  Gull  Island  Lake  was  reached,  and  after 
dinner  it  was  crossed  in  one  and  a  half  hours.  Then  the  heav- 
iest work  of  the  trip  thus  far  was  struck  and  camp  was  made, 
about  half  way  up  Gull  Lake  rapid.  Supper  was  made  off  a 
goose  shot  the  previous  day.  It  was  necessary  to  double  the 
crews  in  getting  up  the  latter  part  of  Gull  Island  rapids,  and 
finally  a  short  carry  was  made  just  at  noon  to  get  clear  of  them. 
From  the  fact  that  the  light,  beautifully  modelled  boats  required 
four  men  to  take  them  up  the  rapids  we  may  get  some  idea  of 
the  swiftness  of  the  river  as  well  as  the  difficulties  attending  the 
mode  of  travelling.  As  the  river  in  its  swiftest  parts  is  never 
less  than  half  a  mile  wide,  and  averages  a  mile,  it  can  readily  be 
seen  that  it  is  a  grand  waterway,  well  deserving  its  name. 

Nine  miles  were  made  this  day  and  camp  was  reached  at  the 
beginning  of  rough  water  on  the  Horse  Shoe  Rapid.  Here  the 


42  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

first  evidence  of  shoes  giving  out  was  seen.  Constant  use  over 
rough  rocks  while  wet  proved  too  much  for  even  the  strongest 
shoes,  and  when  Gary  and  Cole  returned  there  was  not  leather 
enough  between  them  to  make  one  decent  shoe.  Rain  made 
the  night  uncomfortable,  as  the  light  shelter  tent  let  the  water 
through  very  easily  and  was  then  of  little  use.  At  other  times 
the  tents  were  very  comfortable.  Upon  arriving  at  the  spot 
selected  two  men  would  at  once  set  about  preparing  the  brush 
for  beds,  pitching  the  tent,  etc.,  while  the  other  provided  wood 
for  the  camp  and  for  the  cook,  in  which  capacity  Cary  offici- 
ated. I  cannot  do  better  than  use  Gary's  own  words  in  refer- 
ence to  his  "  humble  but  essential  ministrations."  ''Camp  cook- 
ing at  best  is  rather  a  wearing  process,  but  the  agonies  of  a 
man  whose  hands  are  tangled  up  in  dough  and  whom  the  flies 
becloud, competing  for  standing  room  on  every  exposed  portion 
of  his  body,  can  be  imagined  only  by  the  experienced." 

The  party  believed  that  a  good  night's  fest  was  indispensible 
where  the  day  was  filled  with  the  hardest  kind  of  labor,  and 
spared  no  pains  to  secure  them.  Even  on  the  return  Cary  and 
Cole,  when  half  starved,  stuck  to  their  practice  of  making  com- 
fortable camps,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  wonderful  way  they 
held  out  under  their  privations  was  largely  due  to  this.  While 
many  in  their  predicament  would  have  thrown  away  their  blank- 
ets, they  kept  them,  and  on  every  cold  and  stormy  "night  con- 
gratulated themselves  that  they  had  done  so. 

On  Saturday,  Aug.  1st,  the  first  accident  happened.  Track- 
ing on  the  Horse  Shoe  Rapids  was  extremely  difficult  and 
dangerous.  Shortly  after  dinner  a  carry  was  made,  taking  three 
and  a  half  hours  to  track  out  a  path  up  and  along  a  terrace 
about  fifty  feet  high.  Shortly  after  this  the  boat  used  by  Cary 
and  Smith  capsized,  emptying  its  load  into  the  river.  The 
party  were  "  tracking"  at  the  time,  Cole  being  nearly  the  length 
of  the  tow  line  ahead,  tugging  on  it,  while  Cary  was  doing  his 
best  to  keep  the  boat  off  the  rocks.  At  the  margin  of  the  swift 
unbroken  current  there  were  strong  eddies,  and  in  hauling  the 
boat  around  a  bend  her  bow  was  pushed  into  one,  her  slight 
keel  momentarily  preventing  her  from  heading  up  stream  again, 


LOSS   OF   BOAT.  43 

and  the  rush  of  the  water  bore  her  under.  At  the  same  time 
Gary  was  carried  from  his  footing  and  just  managed  to  grasp 
the  line  as  he  came  up  and  escape  being  borne  down  the 
stream.  When  things  were  collected  and  an  inventory  taken  of 
the  loss,  it  was  found  to  include  about  one-fourth  of  the  pro- 
visions, the  barometer  and  chronometer  rendered  useless  and 
practically  lost,  measuring  chain,  cooking  utensils,  rifles  with 
much  of  the  ammunition,  axe  and  small  stores,  such  as  salt, 
sugar,  coffee,  etc.  The  loss  was  a  severe  one,  and  arose  from 
failure  to  fasten  the  stores  into  the  boats  before  starting,  as  had 
been  ordered.  The  time  given  the  party  for  the  trip  was  so 
short,  the  distance  so  uncertain,  and  the  things  they  desired  to 
have  an  opportunity  to  do  on  the  return  that  would  require 
comparative  leisure  were  so  many,  that  they  begrudged  the 
few  minutes  necessary  to  properly  lash  the  loads  into  the 
boats,  each  time  they  broke  camp  ;  and  delay  and  disaster  were 
the  results.  As  the  day  was  nearly  spent,  camp  was  made  but 
about  a  mile  from  the  last,  and  time  used  in  repairing  damages. 
A  very  ingenious  baker  for  bread  was  contrived  by  Cole  from 
an  empty  flour  tin,  a  new  paddle  made  to  replace  the  one  lost, 
and  a  redistribution  of  the  baggage  remaining  effected. 

In  the  following  five  days  sixty-six  miles  were  made  with  a 
few  short  carries,  some  rowing  and  a  good  deal  of  hard  tracking. 
Having  passed  the  Mininipi  river  and  rapids,  the  latter  being 
the  worst  on  the  river,  the  bank  furnishing  almost  no  foothold 
for  tracking  the  Mauni  rapids  were  reached  and  finally  at  5 
P.  M.,  Aug.  6th,  the  party  emerged  into  Lake  Waminikapo.  As 
Gary's  journal  puts  it,  here  the  party  "  first  indulged  in  hilarity." 
The  hardest  part  of  the  work  was  over  and  had  been  done  in 
much  less  time  than  had  been  expected.  According  to  all  ac- 
counts the  falls  should  be  found  only  thirty  miles  beyond  the  head 
of  the  lake,  which  is  forty  miles  long  and  good  rowing  water,  and 
about  three  weeks  time  yet  remained  before  they  were  due  at 
Rigolette.  Added  to  this  a  perfect  summer  afternoon,  com- 
paratively smooth  water,  running  around  the  base  of  a  magnifi- 
cent cliff  and  opening  out  through  a  gorge  with  precipitous 
sides,  showing  a  beautiful  vista  of  lake  and  mountain,  with  the 


• 


44  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN    LABRADOR. 

knowledge  of  rapids  behind  and  the  object  of  the  trip  but  a 
short  way  ahead  and  easy  travelling  most  of  that  way,  and  we 
may  readily  understand  why  these  tired  and  travel  worn  voy 
agers  felt  hilarious.  Gary  says  of  the  scene  :  "  As  we  gradu- 
ally worked  out  of  the  swift  water  the  terraces  of  sand  and 
stones  were  seen  to  give  way  and  the  ridges  beyond  to  approach 
one  another  and  to  erect  themselves,  until  at  the  lake's  mouth 
we  entered  a  grand  portal  between  cliffs  on  either  hand  tower- 
ing for  hundreds  of  feet  straight  into  the  air.  And  looking  be- 
yond and  between  the  reaches  of  the  lake  was  seen  a  ribbon 
of  water  lying  between  steep  sided  ridges,  over  the  face  of 
which,  as  we  pulled  along,  mountain  streams  came  pouring." 

One  day  was  used  in  making  the  length  of  the  lake,  and  at 
the  camp  at  its  head  Young  and  Smith  turned  back.  A  very 
badly  swelled  hand  and  arm  caused  by  jamming  his  thumb  had 
prevented  Young  from  getting  any  sleep  and  threatened  speedily 
to  become  worse.  This  in  connection  with  the  loss  of  provis- 
ions in  the  upset  made  it  expedient  to  send  the  two  men  back. 
The  returning  party  was  given  the  best  boat,  the  best  of  the 
outfit  and  provisions  for  six  days,  in  which  time  they  could 
easily  reach  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Meantime  Gary  and  Cole 
pushed  on  into  what  was  to  prove  the  most  eventful  part  of 
their  journey. 

The  lake  is  simply  the  river  valley  with  the  terraces  cleaned 
out,  and  was  probably  made  when  the  river  was  much  higher, 
at  a  time  not  far  removed  from  the  glacial  period.  The  head 
of  the  lake  is  full  of  sand  bars  and  shoals,  much  resembling 
the  mouth  of  the  river  as  it  opens  out  into  Goose  bay.  On 
both  sides  of  the  lake  mountains  rise  steeply  for  one  thousand 
or  twelve  hundred  feet.  Its  average  width  is  from  two  to  three 
miles  and  it  has  three  long  bends  or  curves.  Only  one  deep 
valley  breaks  the  precipitous  sides,  but  many  streams  flow  in 
over  the  ridge,  making  beautiful  waterfalls. 

The  river  as  it  enters  the  lake  is  about  half  a  mile  wide,  but 
soon  increases  to  a  mile.  Twenty  miles  were  made  by  the  ad- 
vance the  day  the  parties  separated,  and  at  night,  almost 
at  the  place  where  the  falls  were  reported,  nothing  but  smooth 


MOUNT   HYDE.  45 

water  could  be  seen  for  a  long  stretch  ahead.     Sunday,  the  9th, 
twenty-five  miles  were  made, the  good  rowing  continuing,  by  burnt 
lands,  and  banks  over  which  many  cascades  tumbled.     Monday, 
the  last  day's  advance  in  the  boats  was  made,  the  water  becom- 
ing too  swift  to  be  stemmed,     This  day    Gary    got   the    second 
ducking    of  the  trip — a  very  good  record  in  view  of  the  rough- 
ness of  the  work  and  the  smallness  of  the   boats.     During  this 
and    the   day  previous    an  otter,  a  crow  and  a  robin  were  seen. 
As  a  rule  the  river  was  almost  entirely  deserted  by  animal    life. 
The    next   day  the  boat  and  the  provisions,  excepting  a  six 
days  supply  carried  in  the  packs,  were  carefully  cached,  and  at 
10:45    camp    was  left  and  the  memorable  tramp  begun.     Each 
man  carried  about  twenty-five  pounds.     The  stream  was 'followed 
a  short  distance,  then  the  abrupt  ascent  to  the  plateau  climbed, 
old  river  beaches  being  found  all    the    way    up.     Ascending   a 
birch  knoll,the  river  was  in  view  for  quite  a  long  distance  and  a 
large    branch  seen  making  in  from  the  west.     To  the  north  the 
highest  mountain,  in  fact  the  only  peak  in  the  vicinity,  was  seen 
towering  up  above  the  level  plateau.     Towards  this  peak,  chris- 
tened Mt.  Hyde,  the  party  tramped,  and  arriving  at  the  top  saw 
the  country  around  spread  out  like   a   map.     Way    off  towards 
the    northwest    a    large   lake  was  seen  from  which  Grand  River 
probably  flows,  and  nearer  was  a  chain    of  small,    shallow    and 
rocky  ponds.     The  country  is  rocky,  covered   with  deep    moss 
and    fairly    well    wooded,  with  little  underbrush.     The  wood  is 
all  spruce  save  in  the  river  valleys  where  considerable    birch    is 
mixed    in.     The    black  flies  were  present  in  clouds,  even  in  the 
strong  wind  blowing  at  the  top  of  Mt.  Hyde,  and  made  halt  for 
rest  or  any  stop  whatever  intolerable.     Leaving  the    mountain, 
after    taking    bearings    of  all    the    points  to  be  seen,  the  party 
struck  for  the  river  and  camped  on  the  bank  between    the    two 
branches    coming    in    from    the    westward,  several  miles  apart. 
The  following  day,  with  faces  much  swollen    from    fly   bites    of 
the    day  before,  the  line  of  march  was  along  the  banks  till  2  P. 
M.  when  the  upper  fork  was  reached. 

The  course  of  the  river  is  southeast.     This  branch  course    is 
from  the  northwest.     The  main  stream  turns  off  sharply  to  the 


46  BOWDOIN  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 

northeast  and  after  a  few  miles  passes  into  a  deep  canon,  chris- 
tened "Bowdoin  Canon,"  between  precipitous  walls  of  archeac 
rock  from  six  hundred  to  eight  hundrd  feet  high.  This  canon  was 
afterward  found  to  be  about  twenty-five  miles  long  and  winding 
in  its  course.  In  but  few  places  is  the  slope  such  as  to  permit  a 
descent  to  the  river  bank  proper,  and  the  canon  is  so  narrow, 
and  the  walls  of  such  perpendicular  character,  as  to  make  the  river 
invisible  from  a  short  distance.  It  might  truly  be  said  that  the  dis- 
covery of  this  canon,  infinitely  grander  on  account  of  its  age  than 
any  other  known  to  geology,  and  surpassed  by  few  in  size,  is  the 
most  important  result  of  the  expedition.  Several  photographs 
of  it  were  made,  which  were  not  injured  by  the  exposure  to 
wet  and  rough  usage  that  the  camera  had  to  receive  during  the 
return  journey,  and  alone  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  this  most 
wonderful  of  nature's  wonders. 

At  night  the  first  camp  away  from  the  river  was  made,  on 
the  plateau.  The  two  men  felt  that  the  next  day  must  be  their 
last  of  advance,  so  weakened  were  they  by  the  terrible  tramp- 
ing over  deep  moss  and  the  persistent  bleeding  by  black  flies. 
The  stock  of  provisions,  too,  was  running  low,  and  with  their 
diminishing  strength  was  a  warning  to  turn  back  that  could  not 
be  neglected.  A  half  dozen  grouse,  three  Canada  and  three 
rough,  had  been  added  to  their  supplies,  but  even  with  full 
meals  they  could  not  long  stand  the  double  drain  upon  their 
strength. 

In  the  morning  a  high  hill  was  seen,  for  which  they  started, 
drawing  slightly  away  from  the  river.  Soon  a  roar  from  the 
direction  of  the  river  was  noticed,  which  differed  from  the  ordi- 
nary roar  of  the  rapids.  Altering  their  course  it  was  found  the 
roar  "  kept  away,"  indicating  an  unusually  heavy  sound.  Push- 
ing forward,  thinking  it  must  be  the  desired  falls,  they  soon 
came  out  upon  the  river  bank,  with  the  water  at  their  level. 
This  proved  the  falls  to  be  below  them,  and  looking  down  they 
could  be  seen  " smoking"  about  a  mile  distant.  A  distinct 
pounding  had  also  been  felt  for  some  time  previous,  which  further 
assured  them  that  the  falls  were  at  hand.  The  roar  that  had 
attracted  their  attention  was  of  the  river  running  at  the  plateau 


THE  MARKED   BOWDOIN   SPRUCE.  47 

level.  At  the  point  they  came  out  upon  it,  it  was  nearly  two  hun- 
dred yards  wide,  a  heavy  boiling  rapid.  Walking  down  the  great 
blocks  of  rock  which  form  the  shore,  the  river  appeared  to  nar- 
row and  at  11.45  A-  M->  the  Grand  Falls  were  first  seen. 

After  making  pictures  of  the  Falls  a  feeling  of  reaction  man- 
ifested itself  in  Gary's  physical  condition,  and  he  remarked,  "  I 
do  not  wish  to  go  farther,  I    need    sleep."     Cole,    as    assistant, 
had    avoided  the  wear  and  anxiety  of  leadership.     His  athletic 
work  at  Bowdoin,  in  throwing  the  shot  and    hammer    and    run- 
ning   on   the  Topsham    track,    had  given  him  stored  energy  of 
arm  and  leg.     This  reserve    strength    prompted    him    to    press 
forward    and   see  more  of  a  region  new  to  human  eyes.     Leav- 
ing his  hatchet  with  Gary,  now  rolled   up    in    his    blanket,  with 
the    hope    and    expectation    that   on   waking  he  would  use  the 
same  in  preparing  fuel  and  cooking  supper,   Cole    pressed    for- 
ward into  the  strange  and  unknown  country  three  or  four  miles, 
and  then,  for  a  final  view  of  the  location,  climbed    the    highest 
tree    he    could  find  and  from  its  top  surveyed  the  waste  of  land 
and  river.     He  stood  thus  exalted  near  the  center    of  the    vast 
peninsula  of  Labrador.     Four  hundred  and    fifty    miles    to  the 
east  lay  the  wide  expanse   of  Hamilton   Inlet.     Four    hundred 
and  fifty  miles  to  the  north  lay  Cape  Chudleigh,  towards  which 
he  could  imagine  the  Julia  A.  Decker,  vainly  as  it  proved, point- 
ing her  figure  head  through  fog  and    ice.     Only   six    hundred 
miles    due    south  the  granite  chapel  of  Bowdoin  College  points 
heavenward  both  its  uplifted  hands.     Four   hundred    and    fifty 
miles    to  the  west  rolled  the  waves  of  that  great  inland  ocean, 
Hudson's  Bay,  into  whose    depths,    Henry    Hudson,    after    his 
penetrations    to    northern    waters    above    Spitzbergen,     after 
his  pushing  along   the   eastern    coast  of    Greenland,    after   his 
magnificent  and  successful  exploration  of  the    American   coast 
from    Maine    to    Virginia,    penetrating  Delaware  bay  and  river 
and  sailing  up  that  river    crowned    by   the    Palisades    and    the 
hights  of  the  Catskills,  honored  with  his  name  and  whose  waters 
bear   the    largest  portion  of  the  commercial  wealth  of  our  own 
country ;   still  fascinated  by  the  vision  of  a    northwest    passage 
that    intrepid    explorer    penetrated    into    the  waters  of  the  un- 


48  BOWDOIK  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 

known  sea  whose  waves  unseen  dash  along  the  coasts  of  Lab- 
rador from  its  westward  to  its  northern  shores  and  Cape  Chud- 
leigh.  All  these  explorations  he  accomplished  in  a  sailing  ves- 
sel about  the  size  of  the  Julia  A.  Decker,  the  ship  "Discoverie" 
of  seventy  tons.  He  had  wintered  at  the  southern  extremity 
of  Hudson's  Bay  surrounded  by  a  mutinous  crew.  In  the 
hardships  and  suffering  of  the  next  season,  after  he  had  divided 
his  last  bread  with  his  men,  in  the  summer  of  1611,  while  near 
the  western  coast  of  Labrabor,  half  way  back  to  the  Straits, 
by  an  ungrateful  crew  he  was  thrust  into  a  sail  boat  with  his 
son  John  and  five  sailors  sick  and  blind  with  scurvy,  and  was 
left  to  perish  in  the  great -waste  of  waters,  which,  bearing  his 
name,  is  "  his  tomb  and  his  monument."  Cole,  with  his  mind  and 
imagination  filled  with  these  facts,  involuntarily  took  his  knife 
and  carved  his  name  and  the  expedition  on  the  upper  part  of 
the  tree  which  formed  his  outlook.  It  might  be  his  monument 
as  the  Inland  Sea  was  that  of  Hudson.  Then  to  have  the  tree 
marked  and  observable  to  other  eyes,  in  case  other  eyes  should 
see  that  country,  he  commenced  to  cut  the  branches  from  near 
the  top  of  the  tall  spruce.  He  regretted  much  the  leaving  of 
the  hatchet  with  Cary  as  he  was  obliged  to  do  the  work  with 
his  knife,  It  was  a  slow  and  laborious  job.  His  imagination, 
as  it  roamed  over  the  wide  land,  and  his  interest  in  his  present 
efforts,  had  consumed  time  faster  than  he  knew,  and  the  slanting 
rays  of  the  western  sun  started  him  with  thoughts  of  Cary  and 
supper.  It  was  dark  when  he  reached  Cary  and  he  was  still 
asleep.  The  hatchet  was  idle,  and  he  wished  more  than  ever 
that  his  efforts  on  the  branches  of  the  marked  Bowdoin  Spruce 
had  been  rendered  less  laborious  and  more  expeditious  by  the 
aid  of  this,  to  be  hereafter  his  constant  companion  and  source 
of  safety  along  with  another  and  more  diminutive  friend,  a 
pocket  pistol. 

The  falls  proper  are  three  hundred  and  sixteen  feet  high, 
and  just  above  the  river  narrows  from  two  hundred  and 
fifty  to  fifty  yards,  the  water  shooting  over  a  somewhat 
gradual  downward  course  and  then  plunging  straight  down 
with  terrific  force  the  distance  mentioned,  and  with  an  immense 


GRAND    FALLS.  49 

volume.  The  river  is  much  higher  at  times  and  the  fall  must 
be  even  grander,  for  while  the  party  was  there  the  ground 
quaked  with  the  shock  of  the  descending  stream,  and  the  river 
was  nearly  at  its  lowest  point.  At  the  bottom  is  a  large  pool 
made  by  the  change  of  direction  of  the  river  from  south  at  and 
above  the  falls  to  nearly  east  below.  The  canon  begins  at  the 
pool  and  extends  as  has  been  described,  with  many  turns  and 
windings,  for  twenty-five  miles  through  archaic  rock.  Above 
the  falls  in  the  wide  rapids,  the  bed  was  of  the  same  rock,  which 
seems  to  underlie  the  whole  plateau.  In  1839,  the  falls  were  first 
seen  by  a  white  man,  John  McLean,  an  officer  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Co.,  while  on  an  exploring  expedition  in  that  "great  and 
terrible  wilderness"  known  as  Labrador.  His  description  is  very 
general,  but  he  was  greatly  impressed  with  the  stupendous 
height  of  the  falls,  and  terms  it  one  of  the  grandest  spectacles 
of  the  world.  Twenty  years  later,  one  Kennedy,  also  an  em- 
ploye of  the  Hudson  Bay  Co.,  persuaded  an  Iroquois  Indian, 
who  did  not  share  the  superstitious  dread  of  them  common 
among  the  Labrador  Indians,  to  guide  him  to  the  thundering 
fall  and  misty  chasm.  He  left  no  account  of  his  visit,  however, 
and  in  fact,  though  one  other  man  reached  them,  and  Mr. 
Holmes,  an  Englishman,  made  the  attempt  and  failed,  no  full 
account  of  the  falls  has  been  given  to  the  world,  until  Cary 
and  Cole  made  their  report.  Above  the  falls  as  far  as  could  be 
seen,  all  was  white  water,  indicating  a  fall  of  about  one  hundred 
feet  per  mile.  In  the  course  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  there 
is  a  descent  of  twelve  hundred  feet,  nearly  equal  to  the  altitude 
of  the  "Height  of  Land,"  as  the  interior  plateau  of  Labrador 
is  called,  which  has  probably  been  previously  overestimated. 
The  next  forenoon  was  spent  in  surveying  and  making  what 
measurements  could  be  made  in  the  absence  of  the  instruments 
lost  in  the  upset.  At  noon,  after  having  spent  just  twenty- 
four  hours  at  Grand  Falls,  the  party  turned  back.  The  very  fact 
of  having  succeeded,  made  distance  shorter  and  fatigue  more 
easily  borne,  so  they  travelled  along  at  a  rattling  pace,  survey- 
ing at  times  and  little  thinking  of  the  disaster  that  had  befallen 
them.  Camp  was  made  on  the  river  bank,  beneath  one  of  the 
terraces  which  lined  both  sides. 


50  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

Saturday  Aug.  I5th,  the  march  back  to  the  boat  cache  was 
resumed.  Towards  night,  as  they  approached  the  place,  smoke 
was  seen  rising  from  the  ground,  and  fearing  evil,  the  men  broke 
into  a  run  during  the  last  two  miles.  As  Gary's  journal  puts  it: 
"We  arrived  at  our  camp  to  find  boat  and  stores  burnt  and 
the  fire  still  smoking  and  spreading.  Cole  arrives  first,  and  as 
I  come  thrashing  through  the  bushes  he  sits  on  a  rock  munch- 
ing some  burnt  flour.  He  announces  with  an  unsteady  voice  : 
'Well,  she's  gone.'  We  say  not  much,  nothing  that  indicates 
poor  courage,  but  go  about  to  find  what  we  can  in  the  wreck, 
and  pack  up  for  a  tramp  down  river.  In  an  hour  we  have 
picked  out  everything  useful,  including  my  money,  nails,  thread 
and  damaged  provisions,  and  are  on  the  way  down  river  hoping 
to  pass  the  rapids  before  dark,  starting  at  5." 

Their  position  was  certainly  disheartening.  They  were  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  their  nearest  cache,  and  nearly 
three  hundred  from  the  nearest  settlement,  already  greatly 
used  up,  needing  rest  and  plenty  of  food ;  in  a  country  that  for- 
bade any  extended  tramping  inland  to  cut  off  corners,  on  a 
river  in  most  places  either  too  rough  for  a  raft  or  with  too  slug- 
gish a  current  to  make  rafting  pay ;  and  above  all,  left  with 
a  stock  of  food  comprising  one  quart  of  good  rice,  brought 
back  with  them,  three  quarts  of  mixed  meal,  burnt  flour  and 
burnt  rice,  a  little  tea,  one  can  of  badly  dried  tongue,  and  one 
can  of  baked  beans  that  were  really  improved  by  the  fire.  Add 
to  this  some  three  dozen  matches  and  twenty-five  cartridges, 
blankets  and  what  things  they  had  on  the  tramp  to  the  falls, 
and  the  list  of  their  outfit,  with  which  to  cover  the  three  hun- 
dred miles,  is  complete.  There  was  no  time  to  be  wasted,  and 
that  same  night  six  miles  were  made  before  camping.  The 
next  day  the  battle  for  life  began.  It  was  decided  that  any 
game  or  other  supplies  found  on  the  way  should  be  used 
liberally,  while  those  with  which  they  started  were  husbanded. 
This  day  several  trout  were  caught,  line  and  hooks  being  part 
of  each  man's  outfit,  and  two  square  meals  enjoyed,  which 
proved  the  last  for  a  week.  A  raft  was  made  that  would  not 
float  the  men  and  baggage,  and  being  somewhat  discouraged 


SQUIRREL    AND   CRANBERRIES.  51 

on  the  subject  of  rafting  by  the  failure,  another  was  not  then 
attempted,  and  the  men  continued  tramping.  Following  the 
river,  they  found  its  general  course  between  the  rapids  and 
Lake  Wanimikapo,  S.  S.  E.  During  part  of  that  day  and  all 
the  next,  they  followed  in  the  track  of  a  large  panther,  but  did 
not  get  in  sight  of  him.  Acting  on  the  principle  that  they 
should  save  their  strength  as  much  as  possible,  camps  were 
gone  into  fairly  early  and  were  well  made ;  and  this  night,  in 
spite  of  the  desperate  straits  they  were  in,  both  men  enjoyed  a 
most  delightful  sleep. 

After  this  some  time  every  morning  was  usually  occupied  in 
mending  shoes.  All  sorts  of  devices  were  resorted  to  to  get 
the  last  bit  of  wear  out  of  them,  even  to  shifting  from  right  to 
left,  but  finally  Cole  had  to  make  a  pair  of  the  nondescripts 
from  the  leather  lining  of  his  pack,  which  lasted  him  to  the 
vessel.  Cranberries  were  found  during  the  day  and  at  inter- 
vals during  the  tramp,  and  were  always  drawn  upon  for  a  meal. 
About  two  quarts  were  added  to  the  stock  of  provision,  and 
many  a  supper  was  made  off  a  red  squirrel  and  a  pint  of  stewed 
cranberries. 

Wednesday,  the  iQth,  another  raft  was  made,  which  took  the 
party  into  the  lake.  This  was  more  comfortable  than  tracking, 
yet  they  were  in  the  water  for  several  hours  while  on  the  raft, 
which  was  made  by  lashing  two  cross-pieces  about  four  feet 
long  on  the  ends  of  five  or  six  logs  laid  beside  each  other  and 
from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  long,  all  fastened  with  roots,  and  hav- 
ing a  small  pile  of  brush  to  keep  the  baggage  dry.  The  still 
water  of  the  lake  made  the  raft  useless,  even  in  a  fresh,  fair 
breeze,  and  so  this  one  was  abandoned  two  miles  down,  and  the 
weary  tramping  again  resumed.  Fortunately  the  water  was  so 
low  that  advantage  could  be  taken  of  the  closely  overgrown 
shore  by  walking  on  the  lake  bed,  and  far  better  progress  was 
made  owing  to  the  firmer  footing.  Three  days  were  used  in  get- 
ting down  the  lake,  during  which  time  but  one  fish,  a  pickerel, 
was  caught,  where  they  had  expected  to  find  an  abundance. 

At  the  foot  of  the  lake,  tracks  were  seen,  which  it  was  thought 
might  be  those  of  hunters.  It  was  learned  later  that  they  were 


52  BOWDOIN  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 

more  probably  tracks  of  Bryant's  and  Kenaston's  party,  who 
were  following  them  up  and  probably  had  been  passed  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  lake,  unnoticed  in  the  heavy  rain  of  the 
preceeding  day.  Some  bits  of  meat  that  had  been  thrown  away 
were  picked  up  and  helped  to  fill  the  gap,  now  becoming  quite 
long,  between  square  meals.  Supper  on  this  day  is  noted  in 
Gary's  journal  because  they  "  feasted  on  three  squirrels."  Hav- 
ing gotten  out  of  the  lake  into  rapid  water,  trout  was  once  more 
caught,  and  as  on  the  following  day,  Sunday,  the  23d,  a  bear's 
heart,  liver,  etc.,  was  found,  and  later  several  fish  caught.  The 
starvation  period  was  over. 

In  the  afternoon  another  raft  was  built  and  the  next  day  car- 
ried them  five  miles  down  to  the  last  cache.  Though  so  terribly 
used  up  that  the  odd  jobs  connected  with  making  and  breaking 
camp  dragged  fearfully,  and  each  day's  advance  had  to  be  made 
by  pure  force  of  will,  the  men  felt  that  the  worst  was  over  and 
their  final  getting  out  of  the  woods  was  a  matter  of  time  merely. 
At  this  cache,  also,  a  note  from  Young  and  Smith  was  found  an- 
nouncing their  passage  to  that  point  all  right  and  in  less  time 
than  expected,  so  they  had  drawn  no  supplies  from  the  stock 
there. 

Tuesday,  the  25th. — The  day,  by  the  way,  that  the  Julia 
Decker  and  party  arrived  at  Rigolette  according  to  plans,  ex- 
pecting to  find  the  whole  Grand  River  party,  and  instead  found 
only  Young  and  Smith,  who  had  been  waiting  there  about  a 
week.  Rafting  was  continued  in  a  heavy  rain  down  to  the 
Mininipi  Rapids  over  which  the  raft  was  nearly  carried  against 
the  will  of  the  occupants.  At  the  foot  of  these  rapids  a  thirty 
mile  tramp  was  begun,  the  raft. that  had  carried  them  so  well  for 
forty-five  miles  being  abandoned,  which  took  them  past  the 
Horse  Shoe  and  Gull  Island  Rapids  and  occupied  most  of  the 
two  following  days.  The  tracking  was  fair,  and  as  starvation 
was  over  pretty  good  time  was  made. 

Thursday,  the  2 7th. — A  raft  was  made  early  in  the  morning 
that  took  them  by  the  Porcupine  Rapids  and  landed  them 
safely,  though  well  soaked,  at  the  head  of  the  first  falls.  Camp 
was  made  that  night  at  the  first  cache  below  the  falls,  forty 
miles  having  been  covered  during  the  day. 


THE  LAST   PISTOL   SHOT.  53 

Friday,  they  fully  expected  to  reach  Joe  Michelin's  house 
and  get  the  relief  that  was  sadly  needed,  but  as  the  necessity 
for  keeping  up  became  less  imperative,  their  weakness  began 
to  tell  on  them  more.  Gary's  shoes  became  so  bad  that 
going  barefoot  was  preferable,  except  over  the  sharpest  rocks, 
and  Cole's  feet  had  become  so  sore  that  as  a  last  resort  his  coat 
sleeves  were  cut  off  and  served  as  a  cross  between  stockings 
and  boots.  They  were  doomed  to  disappointment,  however, 
and  compelled  to  camp  at  nightfall  with  four  or  five  miles  bad 
travelling  and  the  wide  river  between  them  and  the  house. 
Fires  were  made  in  hopes  of  attracting  the  trapper's  attention 
and  inducing  him  to  cross  the  river  in  his  boat,  but  as  they  learned 
the  next  day,  though  they  were  seen,  the  dark  rainy  night  pre- 
vented his  going  over  to  find  out  what  they  meant.  The  last 
shot  cartridge  was  used  that  night  on  a  partridge,  and  the  red 
squirrels  went  unmolested  thereafter.  This  last  shot  deserves 
more  than  a  passing  notice.  In  one  sense  these  shot  cartridges 
for  Cole's  pistol  were  their  salvation.  Just  before  the  expedi- 
tion started  from  Rockland  it  was  remarked  in  conversation 
that  the  boat  crew  under  DeLong,  in  the  ill-fated  expedition  of 
the  "Jeanette",  met  their  death  by  starvation  in  the  delta  of 
the  Lena,  with  the  exception  of  two,  Naros  and  Nindermann, 
simply  because  their  hunter,  Naros,  had  only  a  rifle  with  ball 
cartridges,  the  shot  guns  having  been  left  on  board  the  "Jea- 
nette;" that  on  the  delta  there  was  quite  an  abundance  of 
small  birds  which  it  was  almost  impossible  to  kill  by  a  bullet 
and  even  when  killed  by  a  lucky  shot,  little  was  left  of  the  bird. 
Cole  was  impressed  by  these  facts  and  upon  inquiring  ascer- 
tained that  the  pistol  shot  cartridges  ordered  by  the  expedition 
had  been  overlooked.  He  energetically  set  about  supplying  the 
lack,  and  after  persistent  search,  almost  at  the  last  hour,  suc- 
ceeded in  finding  a  small  stock  in  the  city,  which  he  bought  out. 
To  the  remnant  of  this  stock  which  escaped  the  fire  at  Burnt 
Cache  camp,  as  has  been  said,  is  the  escape  of  Cary  and  Cole 
from  starvation  largely  due. 

The  value  of.  these  cartridges  had  day  by  day,  on  the  weary 
return  from  Grand  Falls,  become  more  and  more  apparent  to 


54  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

the  owner.  At  the  discharge  of  the  last  one,  the  partridge 
fell  not  to  the  ground,  but  flew  to  another  and  remote  cluster 
of  spruces.  To  this  thicket  Cole  hastened  and  stood  watching 
to  discover  his  bird.  Gary  came  up  and  after  waiting  a  little 
while,  said,  "  It  is  no  use  to  delay  longer,  time  is  too  precious." 
The  value  of  this  last  cartridge  forced  Cole  to  linger.  He  was 
reluctant  to  admit  it  was  wasted.  In  a  few  minutes  he  heard 
something  fall  to  the  ground,  he  knew"  not  what  it  was,  but 
with  eager  steps  pressed  towards  the  place,  and  when  near  it  a 
slight  flutter  and  rustling  of  wings  led  him  to  discover  the  par- 
tridge, uninjured  except  that  one  leg  was  broken ;  that  by  faint- 
ness  or  inability  to  hold  its  perch  with  one  foot  it  had  fallen  to 
the  ground.  The  darkness  and  rain  of  that  night  then  closing 
around  them  were  rendered  less  dark  and  disagreeable  by  the 
assurance  that  kind  Providence  showed  its  hand  when  the  help 
of  an  unseen  power  was  needed  to  deliver  them  from  the  perils 
of  the  unknown  river.  It  rained  hard  all  the  next  forenoon, 
and  as  the  river  was  rough,  the  men  stayed  in  camp,  hoping 
Joe  would  come  across,  until  noon,  when  a  start  was  made  for 
the  house.  A  crazy  raft  took  them  across  the  river,  the  waves 
at  times  nearly  washing  over  them,  and  landing  on  the  other 
side,  they  started  on  the  last  tramp  of  the  trip,  which  the  rain 
and  thick  underbrush,  together  with  their  weakened  condition, 
made  the  worst  of  the  trip.  About  3  P.  M.,  they  struck  a 
path,  and  in  a  few  minutes  were  once  more  under  a  roof  and 
their  perilous  journey  was  practically  done. 

Seventeen  days  had  been  used  in  making  the  three  hundred 
miles,  all  but  about  seventy-five  of  which  were  covered  afoot. 
When  they  came  in,  besides  the  blankets,  cooking  tins  and  in- 
struments, nothing  remained  of  the  outfit  with  which  they 
started  on  the  return  except  three  matches  and  one  ball  cart- 
ridge for  the  revolver,  which,  in  Cole's  hands,  had  proved  their 
main  stay  from  absolute  starvation.  The  following  day,  Sun- 
day, after  having  had  a  night's  rest  in  dry  clothes  and  two  civi- 
lized meals,  Joe  took  them  to  Northwest  .River,  where  Mr. 
McLaren,  the  factor  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  posts 
showed  them  every  kindness  till  a  boat  was  procured  to  take 


ON    BOARD    THE   JULIA   A.    DECKER.  55 

them  to  Rigolette.  A  storm  and  rain,  catching  them  on  a  lee 
shore  and  giving  the  already  exhausted  men  one  more  tussle 
with  fortune  to  get  their  small  vessel  into  a  position  of  safety, 
made  a  fitting  end  to  their  experiences. 

Tuesday  at  4  P.  M.,  they  reached  the  schooner  and  their  jour- 
ney was  done.  Amid  the  banging  of  guns  and  rifles,  yells  of 
delight  and  echoes  of  B-O-W-D-O-I-N  flying  over  the  hills, 
they  clambered  over  the  rail  from  the  boat  that  had  been  sent 
to  meet  them  and  nearly  had  their  arms  wrung  off  in  congratu- 
lations upon  their  success,  about  which  the  very  first  questions 
had  been  asked  as  soon  as  they  came  within  hearing.  They 
were  nearly  deafened  with  exclamations  that  their  appearance 
called  out,  and  by  the  questions  that  were  showered  on  them. 
At  last  some  order  was  restored,  and  after  pictures  had  been 
made  of  them  just  as  they  came  aboard,  dressed  in  sealskin 
tassock,  sealskin  and  deerskin  boots  and  moccasins,  with  which 
they  had  provided  themselves  at  Northwest  River,  ragged  rem- 
nants of  trousers  and  shirts,  and  the  barest  apologies  for  hats, 
they  were  given  an  opportunity  to  make  themselves  comfort- 
able and  eat  supper,  and  then  the  professor  took  them  into  the 
cabin  to  give  an  account  of  themselves.  It  was  many  days  be- 
fore their  haggard  appearance,  with  sunken  eyes  and  dark  rings 
beneath  them,  and  their  extreme  weakness  disappeared. 

The  return  trip  of  Young  and  Smith  from  Lake  Waminikapo, 
who  reached  Rigolette  Aug.  i8th,  was  made  in  five  days  to  North- 
west River,  and  after  resting  two  days,  in  two  more  to  Rigolette. 
Their  trip  was  comparatively  uneventful.  At  the  foot  of  Gull 
Island  Lake  they  met  Bryant  and  Kenaston,  who  with  their 
party  of  Indians  were  proceeding  very  leisurely  and  apparently 
doing  very  little  work  themselves.  At  their  rate  of  progress  it 
seemed  to  our  party  very  doubtful  if  they  ever  reached  the 
falls.  They  had  picked  up,  in  the  pool  at  the  foot  of  the  first 
falls,  one  of  the  cans  of  flour  lost  in  the  upset,  some  fifty  or  six- 
ty miles  up  the  river,  with  its  contents  all  right,  and  strange  to  say 
not  a  dent  in  it,  and  returned  it  to  Smith  and  Young  when  they 
met  them.  That  night,  with  the  assistance  of  the  officers  and 
passengers  of  the  mail  steamer,  which  lay  alongside  of  us,  a 


56  BOWDOIN    BOYS   IN    LABRADOR. 

jollification  was  held.  Our  return  race  to  Battle  Harbor,  the 
last  concert  of  the  Glee  Club  in  Labrador  waters,  the  exciting 
race  over  the  gulf  with  the  little  Halifax  trader,  the  tussle  with 
the  elements  getting  into  Canso,  the  sensation  of  a  return  to 
civilization  and  hearty  reception  at  Halifax,  and  greeting  at 
Rockland,  must  remain  for  another  letter. 


BOWDOIN  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 

ON  BOARD  THE  JULIA  A.  DECKER,  ^ 
ROCKLAND  HARBOR,  ME., 

September  23,  1891.      ) 

The  staunch  little  schooner  has  once  more  picked  a  safe  path 
through  the  dangers  of  fog,  rocks  and  passing  vessels,  and  her 
party  are  safely  landed  at  the  home  port,  before  quite  two  weeks 
of  the  college  term  and  two  weeks  of  making  up  had  piled  up 
against  its  members. 

The  crew  that  weighed  anchor  at  Rigolette  on  the  morning  of 
September  2nd,  when  the  wind  came  and  the  tide  had  turned, 
was  a  happy  one,  for  from  Professor  to  "  cookee  "  we  all  felt 
that  we  were  truly  homeward  bound,  and  that  we  had  accom- 
plished our  undertaking  without  any  cause  for  lasting  regret. 
The  mail  steamer,  whose  passengers  had  joined  in  the  jollifica- 
tion of  the  night  preceding,  being  independent  of  the  wind,  had 
started  ahead  of  us.  Another  race  was  on  with  the  "  Curlew," 
this  time  a  merely  friendly  contest,  without  the  former  anxiety 
as  to  some  other  party's  getting  the  lead  of  ours  in  the  trip  up 
the  Grand  River.  But  the  result  was  not  different  this  time.  A 
fine  breeze  kept  us  going  all  day  and  the  following  night.  But 
the  next  day  the  fog  came.  It  was  no  different  from  the  cold, 
damp,  land-mark  obscuring  mist  of  the  Maine  coast  in  its  facility 
in  hiding  from  view  everything  we  most  wanted  to  see  in  order 
to  safely  find  the  harbor  that  we  knew  must  be  near  at  hand, 
though  we  could  not  tell  just  where.  A  headland,  looming  up 
to  twice  its  real  height  in  the  fog  about  it,  was  rounded,  and  the 
lead  followed  in  the  hope  that  it  would  take  us  to  the  desired 
haven.  Soon  a  fishing  boat  hailed,  and  a  voice,  quickly  followed 
by  a  man,  emerged  from  the  fog  and  shouted  that  if  we  went 
farther  on  that  course  we  would  be  among  the  shoals.  We 
were  told  we  had  passed  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  and  so  turn- 
ing back,  tried  to  follow  our  guide,  but  he  soon  disappeared. 


58  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

Just  at  this  moment  when  it  seemed  impossible  for  us  to  find 
any  opening,  the  fog  lifted  and  we  saw  a  schooner's  sail  over 
one  of  the  small  islets  that  lay  about  us.  Taking  our  cue  from 
that  we  poked  into  the  next  narrow  channel  we  came  to,  and 
getting  some  sailing  directions  from  a  passing  boat,  and  from 
the  signal  man  stationed  on  a  bluff  to  give  assistance  to  stran- 
gers, we  glided  into  an  almost  circular  basin,  hardly  large 
enough  for  the  vessel  to  swing  in,  set  among  steep  rising  sides, 
nto  which  many  ring  bolts  were  seen  to  be  fastened,  and  per- 
fectly sheltered  from  every  wind.  The  use  for  the  ring  bolts  we 
found  later.  The  fog  kept  rolling  over,  and  the  little  fishing 
vessels  kept  shooting  in,  till  it  seemed  the  harbor  would  not 
hold  another.  As  all  sail  had  to  be  hauled  down  before  the 
vessels  came  in  sight  of  the  interior,  the  vessels  seemed  literally 
to  scoot  into  the  basin.  A  few  of  the  vessels  were  anchored 
and  kept  from  swinging  by  lines  to  the  bolts,  and  the  rest  of 
the  fleet  made  fast  to  them.  In  all  the  number  of  vessels 
crowded  into  the  space  where  we  hardly  thought  we  could  lie 
was  about  twenty.  How  they  would  ever  get  out  seemed  a 
puzzle,  but  the  next  morning  it  was  accomplished,  with  a  light 
fair  wind,  by  all  at  once  without  accident  or  delay.  Had  the 
wind  been  ahead,  the  ring  bolts  would  have  aided  in  warping  to 
a  weatherly  position. 

During  the  evening  the  mail  steamer  caught  us,  and  after 
putting  a  little  freight  ashore,  left  us  behind  again.  Here  were 
some  strange  epitaphs  painted  on  the  wooden  slabs,  also  people 
ready  to  exchange  or  sell  at  a  far  higher  rate  than  we  had  hith- 
erto paid,  anything  they  possessed  for  the  cash  which  was  all 
we  had  left  to  bargain  with,  the  available  old  clothes  having 
been  already  disposed  of. 

It  was  hard  to  disabuse  the  minds  of  the  people  at  Square 
Island  Harbor  of  the  idea  that  we  had  come  to  seek  gold  or 
other  valuable  mines,  the  reason  being  that  several  years  before 
a  party  from  the  States  had  spent  considerable  time  prospecting 
in  that  vicinity  and  partly  opened  one  or  two  worthless  mica 
quarries. 


A   BOLD   SKIPPER.  59 

It  was  a  glorious  sight  to  see  the  fleet  get  under  way  the  next 
morning.  Many  a  close  shave  and  more  bumps  but  no  serious 
collisions  were  caused  by  the  twenty  or  more  vessels  crowding 
out  together  through  the  narrow  opening,  each  eager  to  get  the 
first  puff  from  the  fair  breeze  outside  the  lee  of  the  cliffs.  The 
whole  fleet  was  bound  up  the  coast,  but  before  many  of  the 
schooners  had  drifted  far  enough  out  to  catch  the  breeze  it  had 
failed,  and  only  after  an  hour  or  more  of  annoying  experience 
with  puffs  from  every  quarter,  did  the  strong  sea  breeze  set  in. 
Sheets  were  trimmed  flat  aft,  and  all  settled  down  to  beating 
up  the  coast.  The  Julia  soon  left  the  mass  of  the  fleet  and 
before  reaching  Battle  Harbor,  where  a  long  desired  mail  was 
awaiting,  had  nearly  overtaken  the  lucky  ones  who  had  drifted 
far  enough  off  shore  to  make  a  leading  wind  of  the  afternoon 
breeze.  During  the  calm  a  school  of  whales  disported  them- 
selves in  the  midst  of  the  fleet,  chasing  one  another,  blowing 
and  churning  the  water  to  foam  about  us,  apparently  as  though 
it  was  rare  fun. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  we  approached  the  entrance  to  Battle 
Harbor,  but  with  the  wind  blowing  directly  out  of  the  narrow, 
rocky  and  winding  entrance  we  wondered  how  we  should  get  in. 
Our  captain  was  equal  to  the  problem,  however,  and  undeterred 
by  the  crowded  state  of  the  harbor,  within  whose  narrow  limits 
were  two  large  steamers,  one  or  two  barks  and  several  fishermen, 
performed  a  feat  of  seamanship  the  equal  of  which,  we  were 
told,  preserved  in  the  traditions  of  the  port,  and  only  half 
believed,  as  having  been  done  once,  thirty  years  before. 

Getting  about  ten  knots  way  on  the  vessel,  and  heading  her 
straight  for  the  steamer  nearest  the  mouth,  we  just  brushed  by 
the  rocks  of  the  entrance,  sheered  a  bit  and  shot  past  the 
steamer  before  her  astonished  officers  could  utter  a  word  of 
warning,  and  were  traveling  up  the  harbor  at  a  steamboat  pace, 
the  sails  meanwhile  rattling  down,  and  some  of  us  on  board 
wondering  if  we  should  not  keep  right  on  out  the  other  entrance 
to  the  harbor,  while  boats  scurried  out  of  our  way,  two  men  in 
one  fishing  boat  looking  reproachfully  at  us  as  we  missed  them 
by  about  two  feet  just  after  our  fellow  on  lookout  had  reported 


60  BOWDOIN    BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

"  nothing  but  a  schooner  in  the  way,  sir ;  "  and  people  rushed 
to  their  doors  and  to  the  decks  to  see  what  was  exciting  such  a 
commotion,  just  as  the  anchor  was  let  go  with  a  roar  and  we 
quietly  swung  to  and  ran  our  mooring  line,  as  though  we  had 
done  that  thing  all  our  lives. 

Here  about  one  hundred  letters  were  brought  aboard  amid 
much  rejoicing,  for  many  had  not  heard  from  home  at  all  during 
the  trip. 

By  the  time  we  were  ready  to  make  what  we  hoped  would 
prove  the  last  departure  from  a  Labrador  harbor,  the  next 
morning,  the  wind,  which  had  changed  in  the  night  and  was 
blowing  in  exactly  the  opposite  direction,  had  become  so  strong 
that  the  little  steam  launch  of  Bayne  &  Co.,  which  had  been 
tendered  us  to  tow  us  out  of  the  harbor,  was  not  powerful 
enough  to  pull  the  schooner  against  it.  The  other  entrance, 
for  like  all  the  rest  this  Labrador  harbor  was  merely  a  "  tickle  " 
and  had  its  two  entrances,  was  narrow,  shoal,  and  had  such 
short  turns  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  run  so  large  a  vessel  as 
the  Julia  through  it.  However,  our  impatience  would  not 
brook  the  uncertain  delay  of  waiting  for  the  wind  to  change,  so 
taking  on  board  the  best  pilot  that  town  of  pilots  could  afford, 
we  made  the  attempt.  Three  times  we  held  our  breaths,  almost, 
as  we  anxiously  watched  the  great  green  spots  in  the  water, 
indicating  sunken  rocks,  glide  under  our  counter  or  along  our 
side,  while  the  steady  voice  of  the  weatherbeaten  old  man  at 
the  fore  rigging  sounded  "  port,"  then  in  quick,  sharp,  seem- 
ingly anxious  tones,  "  now  starboard — hard  !  "  and  again  "  port 
—  lively  now,"  and  the  graceful  vessel  turned  to  the  right  or 
left,  just  grazing  the  rock  or  ledge,  as  though  she  too  could  see 
just  how  near  to  them  it  was  safe  to  go  and  yet  pass  through 
without  a  scrape.  It  was  a  decided  relief  to  all,  and  the  silence 
on  board,  that  had  been  broken  only  by  the  rush  of  wind  and 
water,  the  pilot's  voice  and  the  creaking  of  the  wheel  as  it  was 
whirled  around  by  the  skillful  hands  of  the  captain,  suddenly 
ceased,  when  the  pilot  left  his  place  and  walked  slowly  aft, 
praising  the  admirable  way  in  which  the  vessel  behaved  at  the 
critical  points,  and  apparently  unconscious  that  in  the  eyes  of 
twenty  college  boys  he  had  performed  an  almost  impossible  feat. 


LAST   HABBOB   IN   LABBADOB.  61 

After  a  hard  pull  to  windward  for  two  of  us,  to  set  the  pilot 
ashore,  and  a  wet  and  rough  time  getting  aboard  again,  and 
after  our  laugh  at  the  expense  of  the  mate,  who  had  cast  off 
our  shore  warp,  as  we  started  out  of  the  harbor,  and  then  had 
been  unable  to  catch  the  schooner,  which  was  equally  unable  to 
wait  for  him  in  the  narrow  passage,  and  who  had,  therefore,  to 
row  all  the  way  after  us  at  the  top  of  his  speed,  and  only  caught 
us  when  we  lay  to  to  send  off  the  pilot;  we  made  everything 
snug  and  started  down  the  straits,  hoping  to  reach  Canso  with- 
out further  delay. 

That  was  not  our  fortune,  however,  for  soon  the  wind  hauled 
ahead,  and  with  a  strong  current  against  us  it  was  impossible  to 
make  any  progress,  so  after  jumping  in  a  most  lively  manner  all 
day,  in  the  chops  of  Belle  Isle,  we  made  a  harbor  for  the  night 
at  Chateau  Bay,  in  almost  the  same  spot  where  we  had  waited 
two  dreary  days  two  months  before.  The  next  day  we  worked 
along  the  coast,  but  at  night  again  put  in  to  what  proved  our 
last,  as  well  as  our  first  harbor  on  the  Labrador  —  Red  Bay. 
Here  we  found  a  mail  steamer  and  were  allowed  irregularly  to 
open  the  bag  to  Battle  Harbor  and  take  out  that  which  belonged 
to  us,  much  to  our  delight,  of  course,  for  it  gave  us  news  com- 
paratively fresh,  that  is,  not  over  a  month  old,  from  home. 

Here,  also,  we  laid  in  a  supply  of  the  only  fruit  that  Labrador 
produces,  called  "  bake  apple."  It  is  a  berry  of  a  beautiful 
waxen  color  when  ripe,  otherwise  looking  much  like  a  large 
raspberry,  and  having  a  most  peculiar  flavor,  which  we  learned 
to  like,  and  grew  very  fond  of,  when  the  berries  were  served, 
stewed  with  sugar.  We  had  been  deprived  of  fresh  fruit  so 
long  that  we  should  probably  have  learned  to  like  anything, 
however  odd  its  flavor,  that  had  its  general  characteristics. 

Here,  too,  we  again  fell  in  with  our  little  Halifax  trader,  which 
gave  us  so  hot  a  race  to  Halifax  in  the  coming  week,  both  ves- 
sels arriving  at  Halifax  within  an  hour  of  each  other,  after  start- 
ing at  the  same  time  from  Red  Bay  and  keeping  within  sight 
nearly  all  the  time.  At  length  the  wind  came  to  the  south,  and 
we  started,  laying  our  course  west,  along  the  Labrador  shore,  so 
as  to  get  a  windward  position  and  be  able  to  "  fetch  "  Canso 


62  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

when  the  wind  came  around  to  the  west,  as  it  is  certain  to  do  at 
that  season  of  the  year,  compelling  us  to  "  tack  ship  "  and  stand 
right  out  against  the  stormy  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  These 
southwesterly  winds  had  been  our  dread,  for  they  blow  so 
strongly  and  in  September  make  the  Gulf  so  rough  that  getting 
to  windward  against  them  is  impossible.  Hence  our  satisfaction 
can  be  imagined  as  we  sped  along  the  Labrador  coast  that  day, 
the  wind  becoming  a  trifle  easterly,  so  as  to  allow  us  to  "  start 
our  sheets  "  and  at  the  same  time  steadily  increase  our  offing, 
getting  such  a  weatherly  position  for  Canso  that  the  moment 
the  expected  change  of  direction  began  we  promptly  "  tacked 
ship  "  and  at  the  worst  had  a  leading  wind  across. 

For  three  days  we  hobnobbed  with  the  little  "  Minnie  Mac  " 
across  the  Gulf.  The  first  thing  we  did  in  the  morning  was  to 
hunt  her  up  with  the  glasses  from  aloft,  if  not  in  sight  from  the 
deck,  and  the  last  thing  in  order  at  night  were  speculations  as 
to  where  we  should  next  see  her.  The  difference  in  the  build 
of  the  two  vessels,  the  one  being  shoal  and  centerboard,  the 
other  deep  and  heavily  laden,  made  the  race  a  zigzag.  When 
the  wind  favored  a  little  and  the  sheets  could  be  "  eased  "  then 
the  shoal  model  would  push  ahead,  but  when  the  wind  came 
more  nearly  ahead,  aud  we  had  to  plunge  squarely  into  a  head 
sea,  then  the  deeper  draught  and  heavier  lading  told  to  advan- 
tage. 

During  this  time  we  were  not  idle  on  board.  The  Grand 
River  men  were  beginning  to  feel  vigorous  again,  and  their  notes 
and  data  had  to  be  worked  up.  The  collections,  too,  though 
largely  packed  away  securely  for  the  rough  voyage,  yet  gave 
plenty  of  occupation  to  those  not  otherwise  employed,  while 
the  few  really  industriously  inclined  used  their  superfluous 
energy  in  seeing  to  it  that  the  lazy  were  given  no  opportunity 
to  enjoy  their  idleness. 

The  morning  of  the  fourth  day  the  coasts  of  Cape  Breton 
were  in  sight,  but  the  wind  came  straight  out  of  the  Gut  of 
Canso  in  half  a  gale,  and  then  our  rival,  owing  to  her  greater 
weight,  forged  ahead,  and  it  seemed  that  we  were  to  be  beaten. 
However,  much  to  our  amusement,  when  we  got  a  few  miles  off 


SOLID   SHOT   AT   HALIFAX.  63 

the  mouth  of  the  Gut,  we  found  a  calm,  into  which  the  "  Minnie 
Mac"  had  run  and  where  she  stayed  till  we  came  up.  With 
us  also  came  a  breeze,  and  we  forged  ahead  of  her  into  the 
anchorage  at  Port  Hawksbury  just  as  we  had  said  we  would  do 
when  we  left  Red  Bay.  Here  we  spent  the  rest  of  the  day,  lay- 
ing in  a  stock  of  much  needed  fresh  provisions,  and  sending 
nine  of  our  college  base-ballists,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Port 
Hawkesbury  nine,  to  give  them  some  points  on  the  game. 
About  the  fifth  inning  the  game  closed  on  account  of  darkness, 
with  score  in  Bowdoin's  favor  something  about  30-0. 

A  short  run  brought  us  into  Little  Canso,  where  we  had  to 
turn  to  the  west  to  go  along  the  Nova  Scotia  coast  to  Halifax, 
but  fog  shut  down  so  we  spent  a  day  inspecting  the  plant  of  the 
Mackay-Bennett  cable,  which  has  its  terminus  at  Hazel  Hill, 
about  two  miles  from  Canso,  finding  some  very  agreeable 
acquaintances  in  the  persons  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  the  manager, 
and  Mr.  Upham,  his  first  assistant  electrical  expert,  who  proved 
to  be  a  Castine  man  and  was  deligted  to  meet  some  Yankees 
from  his  old  cruising  grounds,  Penobscot  Bay,  and  getting  some 
interesting  knowledge  concerning  ocean  telegraphy.  It  seemed 
strange,  to  say  the  least,  to  be  in  communication,  as  we  were, 
with  a  ship  out  in  mid-Atlantic,  repairing  a  cable,  and  to  have 
an  answer  from  Ireland  to  our  message  in  less  than  a  minute 
after  it  was  sent. 

With  one  stop  on  account  of  fog  and  threatening  storm,  we 
reached  Halifax  in  two  more  days.  The  introduction  to  it, 
though,  was  not  so  pleasant,  for  as  we  were  running  up  the  har- 
bor solid  shot  from  one  of  the  shore  batteries  came  dropping 
around  us  and  skipping  by  us,  altogether  too  near  for  comfort. 
However,  no  damage  was  done  beyond  the  injury  threatened  to 
Her  Majesty's  property  in  the  proposition  for  a  while  considered 
to  call  away  boarders,  land  and  take  the  battery.  We  found 
later  that  it  was  merely  target  practice  and  nothing  disrespect- 
fully intended  towards  the  flag  flying  from  our  peak,  so  were 
satisfied  that  we  had  not  made  any  hostile  response. 

Once  ashore  the  hospitable  Haligonians  began  by  inviting  the 
Professor  and  others  to  a  dinner  at  the  Halifax  Club.  The  next 


64  BOWDOIN   BOYS   IN   LABRADOR. 

day  we  enjoyed  an  official  reception,  and  accompanied  by  Pre- 
mier Fielding  and  members  of  his  Cabinet,  Consul  General 
Frye  and  other  gentlemen,  were  taken  on  an  excursion  about 
the  beautiful  harbor  in  the  steam  yacht  of  one  of  our  enter- 
tainers, given  a  dinner  and  right  royally  toasted  at  one  of  the 
public  buildings,  and  were  finally  taken  to  the  Yacht  Club 
House  for  a  final  reception. 

At  Halifax  some  of  our  party  fearing  more  delay  in  reaching 
Rockland,  left  us,  so  with  diminished  numbers  but  plenty  of 
enthusiasm  we  made  ready  for  the  last  stage  of  the  voyage. 
After  some  rather  amusing  experiences  with  our  assistant  stew- 
ard or  "  cookee,"  who  seemed  to  reason  that  because  he  had 
been  so  long  deprived  of  the  luxuries  of  modern  civilization  he 
should  employ  the  first  opportunity  he  had  to  enjoy  them  in 
making  himself  incapable  of  doing  so,  and  who  was  brought 
aboard  the  morning  we  sailed  only  after  a  somewhat  prolonged 
search,  we  "  squared  away  "  for  Cape  Sable.  The  fine  fair  wind 
ran  us  nearly  down  there,  but  just  as  we  thought  to  escape  the 
provoking  calms  that  delayed  us  in  this  vicinity  on  the  outward 
trip,  we  found  the  wind  drawing  ahead  and  failing.  A  day  was 
spent  in  slowly  working  around  the  cape,  drifting  back  much  of 
the  time,  and  then  we  struck  one  of  the  southerly  fog  winds 
that  are  too  well  known  on  the  Maine  coast.  We  were  in  waters 
on  which  our  captain  had  been  bred,  and  so  we  pushed  on  into 
the  night,  looking  eagerly  or  listening  intently  as  the  darkness 
closed  over  us  for  some  sign  of  approaching  land.  At  length, 
just  about  eleven,  when  it  seemed  we  could  not  stand  the  suspense 
of  knowing  that  thousands  of  rocks  were  just  ahead  but  not 
just  where  they  were,  and  yet  equally  unwilling  to  stop  then, 
when  so  near  home,  we  heard  the  sound  of  the  breakers,  and 
standing  cautiously  in  on  finding  the  water  very  deep,  soon 
made  Mt.  Desert  rock  light.  It  was  a  welcome  sight,  and  from 
there  an  easy  matter  to  shape  our  course  for  home.  At  day- 
break we  could  still  see  nothing,  but  towards  noon,  the  wind 
being  light  and  our  progress  slow,  we  passed  the  desolate  house 
of  refuge  on  the  Wooden  Ball  Island,  and  soon  the  lifting  fog 
showed  us  the  mouth  of  Penobscot's  beautiful  bav.  and  shortlv 
after  we  dropped  our  anchor  in  the  long  wished  for  Rockland 
harbor,  and  the  cruise  of  the  Julia  Decker  and  her  crew  of 
Bowdoin  boys  was  ended. 


THE   ROYAL    WELCOME  65 

The  account  would  be  incomplete,  though,  were  reference 
omitted  to  the  royal  welcome  that  awaited  us  at  Rockland. 
Upon  landing  we  found  the  church  bells  ringing,  and  the  city's 
business  for  the  moment  stopped,  while  the  city  fathers  as  well 
as  a  goodly  number  of  her  sons  and  daughters  greeted  us  at 
the  wharf.  In  the  evening  there  was  another  reception,  and 
there  the  expedition  as  such  appeared  for  the  last  time,  and  as 
the  most  fitting  way  in  which  we  could  express  our  gratitude 
at  the  interest  shown  in  our  work  and  safe  return,  as  well  as  to 
contribute  our  share  towards  the  evening's  entertainment,  the 
Bowdoin  College  Labrador  Expedition  Glee  Club  rendered,  as 
its  last  selection,  a  popular  college  song,  of  which  the  burden 
was,  as  also  the  title,  "The  wild  man  of  Borneo  has  just  come 
to  town." 

JONATHAN  P.  CILLEY,  JR. 


BOWDOIN  BOYS  IN  LABRADOR. 


Since  the  Bowdoin  College  Labrador  Expedition  much  in- 
terest has  been  taken  by  charitable  women  in  the  missionaries 
who  are  laboring  in  that  bleak  country.  As  often  as  possible 
barrels  of  clothing  and  other  useful  articles  have  been  sent  to 
them.  In  return  the  missionaries  have  sent  interesting  letters 
describing  their  work  and  acknowledging  the  gifts.  One  of 
these,  written  to  Mrs.  James  P.  Baxter,  of  Portland,  gives  a  de- 
scription that  will  be  of  general  interest : 


HOPEDALE,  LABRADOR,  > 
October  3,  1893.  5 

Dear  Madam : 

For  your  very  kind  letter  and  for  the  very  useful  articles  for 
our  people,  accept  my  best  and  kindest  thanks.  We  have  al- 
ready made  some  of  the  people  glad  with  cloth,  and  we  will 
but  be  so  glad  for  them  in  the  winter  time. 

Happily  the  codfishery  has  been  much  better  this  year  than 
last,  thus  we  can  more  confidently  look  forward  to  the  coming 
winter  time  than  we  could  last  year ;  because  our  people  were 
so  poor  and  we  finished  the  many  kind  gifts  long  before  the 
spring  came  on,  when  they  were  able  to  earn  their  own  bread. 

We  have  had  a  very  cold  and  dreary  summer,  the  few  warm 
days  could  easily  be  counted,  and  now  the  winter  is  at  the 
door. 

On  last  Christmas  day  we  had  a  nice  Christmas  celebration 


MISSIONARY    IN    LABRADOR  67 

with  our  school  children  in  the  chapel.  For  this  purpose  we 
had  placed  two  nice  Christmas  trees  and  two  illuminated  trans- 
parents  in  the  chapel.  My  dear  husband  translated  some 
lovely  Christmas  songs  into  Eskimo,  and  I  taught  the  children 
to  sing  them.  Between  the  hymns  they  recited  songs  and 
texts  from  the  Bible.  Sometimes  one  by  one  and  then  again 
altogether.  The  children  made  it  very  nicely.  The  choir, 
which  sang  some  nice  pieces,  helped  to  make  the  whole  to 
sound  better.  Finally  every  child  got  a  large  biscuit  and  a 
cup  of  tea,  which  seemed  to  make  greater  impression  than  the 
whole  celebration.  The  congregation  were  also  invited  and 
they  were  very  much  interested  in  it. 

In  the  midst  of  February  I  accompanied  my  dear  husband 
on  his  journey  around  to  the  settlers  belonging  to  our  congre- 
gation, which  live  scattered  far  away  from  here  towards  the 
South. 

We  left  Hopedale  one  morning,  having  30  degrees  Cen.  of 
cold,  of  course  by  "kamatik"  (dog  sledge).  I  was  well  wrap- 
ped up  so  that  I  did  not  freeze  so  very  much,  but  the  worst  is 
always  on  such  a  trip  that  we  cannot  eat  anything.  Before  we 
started  I  made  some  meat  balls  for  the  purpose  to  use  them 
during  the  nine  hours  driving,  but  it  was  impossible  to  make 
use  of  them  because  they  were  like  stones  without  fearing  to 
loosen  our  teeth.  Happily  I  had  some  biscuits  and  to  become 
more  strengthened  I  used  a  little  chocolate.  We  were  nearly 
three  weeks  away  from  home  and  in  that  time  we  were  nearly 
every  day  on  the  kamatik.  Never  less  than  five  hours  at  a 
time,  but  generally  from  seven  to  nine  hours,  and  twice  from 
eleven  to  twelve  hours.  It  was  indeed  sometimes  very  ex- 
hausting especially  one  time  when  we  came  to  very  poor  peo- 
ple where  we  had  for  two  days  nothing  to  eat  and  the  next 
day  we  had  to  travel  for  about  eleven  hours  having  nothing 
but  dry  biscuits.  I  did  not  feel  so  very  well  that  time. 

Many  of  these  settlers  have  only  the  opportunity  once  a 
year  to  hear  the  gospel  of  God  preached  to  them,  that  is  when 
the  missionary  is  visiting  them.  Many  are  too  far  away  from 


68  BOWDOItf    BOYS    Itf  LABfcADOft 

Hopedale  to  come  and  visit  us,  and  some  are  too  poor ;  or  at 
least  the  dogs'  food  is  too  expensive.     My  dear  husband  made 
this  journey  last  winter  for  the  fifth  time,  that  is  only  towards 
the  south.     To  the  north  he  has  also  been    different  times.     In 
such  a  journey  the  Sacraments  are  spent,  marriage  performed, 
and  meetings  are  kept  as  many  as  possible.     The  poor  children 
who  grow  up  without   having  any    school  are    examined  as    to 
how  much  they  have  improved  since  the  last  year.     We  felt 
this  year  very  much  again  the  need  of  having  a  station  among 
them.     There    are  children    among  them  from  16  to  17  years 
of  age  who  cannot  read  at  all.     We  have  now  asked  our  society 
in  London  and  Berthelsdorf,  if  possible,  to  build  a  station  for 
them  that  they  may  have  their  own  minister  and  teacher.     We 
hope  it  may  be   done,  then  we  would    not  have   to  travel   any 
longer  only  in  cases    of  need.     Every   one  who    has  to   travel 
ruins  his  health  if  he  has  to  do  it   for  a   long  time.     The   set- 
tlers could  then  easily  reach  the    Mission  Station    or  the    mis- 
sionary could  in  one  day  get  to  the  place  where  he  is  wanted. 
May  I,  dear  madam,  give  you  some  instances?  First  about  a 
family  having  ten  children  of  ages  ranging  from  two  to  eighteen 
years.     We  came  to  that  place  in  the  afternoon  about  5  o'clock 
accompanied  by  four  other  persons  belonging  to  their  rela- 
tionship who  joined  when  we  left  their  homes.     As  soon  as  we 
opened  the  door  of  the  house  we  were  in  the  dwelling  room. 
At  the    first  sight   we  saw  that  great    poverty  governed    here, 
even  the  children  looked  consumed  and  clothed  in  rags.     The 
house  was  so  bad  that  the  wind    made  its  way   through   the 
many  gaps.     After  I  had  wrapped  myself  in  a  large  shawl  and 
placed  myself  beside  the  big  stove  I  was  still  freezing.     Some 
windows  were  broken,  the  opening  filled  with  rags.     My  dear 
husband  asked  why  they  had  not  nailed  a  board  on  the  place 
instead  of  rags  ;  they  answered,  "We  have  got  none."     But  my 
husband  said  "You  could  easily  have  made  a  nail  of  wood," 
which  they  promised  to  do.     We  could  only  get    a  very    little 
bread,  because  they  had  only  one  small  piece.     I  gave  the  tea. 
My  dear  husband  spent  the  Sacrament,  communion  and  bap- 


CSILDREK 


tism  in  the  evening  in  the  hope  we  would  be  able  to  go  further 
the  next  day,  for  we  could  not  stay  any  longer  here  if  we 
would  not  starve.  We  had  a  poor  resting  place.  It  was  not 
possible  to  undress  ourselves.  The  whole  time  we  felt  the 
snow  on  our  faces  and  the  wind  through  the  many  gaps.  We 
froze  very  much  although  the  fire  was  kept  on  during  the 
night.  Not  very  far  from  us  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tacque  were  rest- 
ing, and  we  heard  how  the  one  said  to  the  other,  "I  hope  Mr. 
and  Mrs.Hansen  can  go  further  to-morrow,for  we  have  nothing 
to  eat."  That  was  indeed  a  very  sad  prospect,for  we  heard  too 
well  the  snow  storm  was  howling  outside,and  there  was  no  hope 
for  us  to  go  on.  And  so  it  was.  The  next  day  I  gave  from 
our  provisions  as  much  as  I  could,  but  we  had  not  very  much, 
and  I  could  not  give  everything  away  because  we  might  after- 
wards be  caught  out  in  a  snowstorm,  which  often  happens, 
where  we  then  have  to  live  in  a  snow  house  until  the  storm  is 
over.  I  gave  now  coffee  for  19  persons,  bread  we  had  none, 
for  it  always  freezes  so  hard  that  it  is  useless.  The  poor 
woman  collected  all  the  bread  she  had  and  we  took  as  little  as 
possible.  During  the  day  time  my  dear  husband  kept  different 
meetings,  talked  and  prayed  with  them.  For  dinner  I  asked 
for  a  large  pot  and  put  it  on  the  stove.  I  had  happily  taken 
some  preserved  soups  and  cooked  now  for  all  the  people  in 
the  house,  put  all  our  meat  balls  and  broken  biscuits  into  the 
same  pot,  and  gave  now  from  this  dish  a  plateful  to  every  per- 
son in  the  house.  I  had  also  put  some  "Liebig"  in  my  box, 
before  I  left  my  home,  and  was  now  able  to  make  the  best  use 
of  it.  It  was  something  touching  to  see  the  many  hungry 
children,  how  they  devoured  their  portion.  Anything  like 
that  they  have  perhaps  never  tasted  before,  and  would  gladly 
have  taken  some  more,  but  it  was  already  gone.  In  the  after- 
noon my  dear  husband  kept  school  for  the  children,  told  nice 
stories  and  instructed  them  about  different  things,  and  the 
children  would  have  gone  on  for  a  long  time.  The  smell  in 
the  house  was  not  so  very  pleasant,  19  persons  in  one  room, 
beside  this  the  men  smoked  their  pipes  nearly  the  whole  time. 


70  BOWDOTN   BOYS    IN   LABRADOR 

The  children  were  crying  and  would  not  obey  their  parents* 
and  the  parents  are  so  very  weak  in  this  way. 

In  the  evening  I  gave  once  more  what  I  possibly  could  spare, 
and  for  the  next  morning  too.  But  we  really  did  hunger. 

The  Lord  heard  our  prayers  that  we  were  able  to  go  on  the 
next  morning  to  the  next  place,  but  because  of  the  deep  snow 
we  could  only  move  on  very  slowly.  First  after  1 1  hour's 
travelling  we  came  in  the  evening  to  our  next  station.  We  did 
hunger  more  in  these  three  days  than  we  have  done  in  our 
whole  lives.  The  next  place  was  a  nice  clean  house,  where  we 
restored  ourselves  again. 

In  one  place  we  visited  an  Eskimo.  When  we  entered  the 
room,  what  did  we  see?  A  seal  living  in  the  midst  of  their 
room.  The  people  had  heard  of  our  coming  and  thus  put.  the 
monster  in  the  room  to  thaw  it  up  to  feed  our  dogs  with.  The 
animal  was  soon  taken  away.  The  house  was  clean,  but  small. 
In  this  place  we  had  to  sleep  on  the  floor,  and  we  used  our 
blankets  to  make  a  couch  as  well  as  we  could.  A  sailcloth 
was  used  as  a  curtain,  so  that  we  had  something  like  a  separa- 
ted place  for  us.  Our  two  drivers  were  also  in  the  same  room, 
and  they  cared  for  music  during  the  night,  for  they  snored 
like  a  saw  mill,  and  when  they  woke  up  they  smoked  their 
pipes  and  gave  the  air  in  the  room  such  an  odor,  which  I  shall 
not  try  to  describe.  Nevertheless,  for  all  that,  we  were  happy 
together,  and  I  did  not  repent  one  minute  to  have  accompanied 
my  dear  good  husband,  in  order  to  be  a  faithful  partner  to 
him.  We  remembered  also  it  was  not  a  pleasant,  but  a  mis- 
sion trip  we  made,where  we  may  expect  many  things  like  that. 
What  is  that  little  we  can  do  for  our  Lord  and  Saviour?  It  is 
like  a  drop  of  water  in  the  bottomless  sea  of  his  love.  If  our 
journey  has  but  been  a  blessing  to  some,  and  if  here  and  there 
one  corn  of  gospel's  seed  may  grow  up  we  are  more  than  paid 
for. 

We  had  four  nice  places  where  the  good  people  did  all  they 
could  to  make  it  comfortable  for  us.  Everywhere  they  were 
very  thankful  for  my  coming,  and  expressed  their  gratitude  in 


EASTER  71 

many  ways.     At  Easter  time  we  had  more  visitors  than  usual 
and  they  seemed  to  be  more  happy  than  else. 

Will  you  kindly  excuse  this  short  description,  dear  madam ; 
it  would  take  me  too  long  to  describe  the  whole  journey.  I 
used  some  of  your  kind  gifts  for  the  people  whom  we  visited, 
and  I  hope  you  will,  dear  madam,  and  the  kind  ladies  who 
contributed  to  your  large  and  rich  sending  accept  our  and  the 
people's  warmest  and  best  thanks. 

With  kindest  regards  from  my  dear  husband  and  me,  I  am, 
dear  madam,  believe  me, 

Your  affectionately, 

ANNIE  HANSEN. 


•••rSTjps^ 

OF  THE  ^ 

UNIVERSITY] 

Of 


This  is  the  date  on  which  t 
book  was  charged  out 

DUE 


;his 


I 


YC  97270  A 


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181440 


